Naruto: Question of Power
by SuperGota
Summary: Behind the facade of a fool, there lies strategic genius, and unbreakable resolution. Madara Uchiha makes a visit in the night, and sparks Naruto's potential. An intelligent, cunning, and genius Naruto makes use of every advantage to fulfill his dreams. But when uncovered plots reveal more plots, where will his potential lead? [Starts from Canon]
1. Prologue

**A/N**: This story was originally without a prologue. But then I finally came up with one that was good. If you do not understand this prologue, then it's not a big deal, you can just go to Chapter 1. It's probably because you haven't read far enough in the manga that you won't understand this. It won't affect your enjoyment of this fanfiction though.

* * *

**Prologue**

_Two figures stood in the middle of a forest clearing under the dead of night. Two blood red eyes swirled and stared down the single crimson eye opposite them._

"_I cannot kill my little brother. Please allow me to spare him."_

"_Why the sudden change of heart? We had a deal already. We kill the clan, I spare the village."_

"_Your eyes may be eternal, and you may be immortal. But as you said before, you have yet to reach the level of the Sage of Six Paths. Without the Nine-Tails, even you could not defeat this entire village."_

"_Is your little brother really worth that much to you?"_

"…"

_The masked man chuckled slightly. "If only I had been like you. In the end, I can only regret that Izuna's sacrifice meant nothing to the clan and to this pathetic village that our clan foolishly agreed to found with the Senju."_

"_The new deal is you spare both the village and my brother, and I will take care of the rest of the clan."_

"_Hmhm, haha… hahaha! Very well. So be it. What will you do after you kill the clan? Why don't you join my organization of missing-nin, Akatsuki. Our goal is to create peace by capturing all of the Tailed-Beasts."_

"…_If I must."_

"_Good. Then when it's over, find the man in Amegakure who is known as a god. He possesses the Rinnegan and is Akatsuki's public leader. I'll be going now."_

"_Wait. Before you go, tell me this. Is there text on the Uchiha underground chamber's stone tablet that the normal Mangekyou cannot read? What does it say?"_

"_Yes, but I'm afraid that's a secret. You could find out by taking your brother's eyes."_

"…"

"_Anything else?__"_

"_Are you going to capture the Nine-Tails today, if this Akatsuki means to capture all the tailed-beasts?__"_

"_I see why you would think that. But no, I will not. In the first place, the Nine-Tails must be captured last. And secondly, that boy is the second last Uzumaki, after all. In the event that the Rinnegan I have under my control is destroyed before I take them for myself, then he will be become useful to me. Because of this, that boy must also stay alive for now, even if other half of the Nine-Tails' chakra is guaranteed to remain when he dies." _

_A moment later, the space around the masked man warped into a swirl and he disappeared.

* * *

_

_A young Naruto was sleeping at his apartment when he suddenly woke up to see a man in a mask with flame-like patterns and one eye hole._

_Suddenly there was a heavy feeling in the air, a certain deep pressure that weighed on young Naruto's whole body and mind._

_"Wha-who are you? What are you doing here?"_

_"I am someone very powerful, Naruto-kun."_

_"Ho-how do you know my name!"_

_"Because I am very powerful, of course."_

_As if that were all the explanation needed, the man continued, "Do you want to be powerful too?"_

_The man walked closer to Naruto and bent down to match Naruto's eye level. From this range, Naruto could see clearly the single red eye that looked so demonic._

_"…"Naruto stared at the man, unwilling to respond to this stranger._

_"Of course you do. Then remember this-" the man suddenly stopped. He disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto, whispering to Naruto's left ear, "The true winner is he who looks to the future. So stay alive and grow strong…" and the voice trailed off before disappearing completely, the man disappearing with it._

_And with that the heavy pressure disappeared too. But what replaced it was a strange vision. That red eye was staring at him. Not from the back, nor from the front, but from every direction. This was what he felt._

_Everything became all dark, except the eye. And in this red eye, there was a circular black-colored pattern. It swirled viciously, making Naruto feel dizzy._

_As Naruto clutched his head, he fell back down to his bed and tried to cover his ears with the blanket. But he couldn't block out the sound…the echoing voice that continued to repeat the words of the masked man._

_"The true winner is he who looks to the future. So stay alive and grow strong…"_

_"The true winner is he who looks to the future…"_

_"The true winner…"_

_"…future…"_

_"…stay alive…"_

_For a long time, Naruto would wonder if that was just a dream. But those words he would never forget. Nor would he forget that blood red eye. _

_Even at his young age, he recognized the wisdom hidden in those words. He recognized the power hidden behind the eye._

_And, most importantly, he recognized what he had to do to be strong._

_And so he resolved to stay alive…grow strong…and win…by looking to the future.

* * *

_

**A/N:** Now read Chapter 1 for the real story.

**Edit:** Thanks goes to Cenright for seeing the weakness of the prologue's end. I think this edit sounds a lot better than the old one, don't you?


	2. Final Exam

**A/N**: My first Naruto Fanfiction, and my second Fanfiction overall.

Just a quick note about this chapter: it probably seems exactly like canon except for Naruto's thoughts. Unfortunately, I was unable to come up with a good introduction for the story, and this was the result. In fact, you can start on the 2nd chapter and you will still understand everything. But it's best if you read this chapter first anyway. In any case, the first "divergences" that we all want to see in Fanfiction start in the 2nd chapter.

**Update November 14, 2010:** I have written a prologue to this story, which is now placed before this chapter. The above A/N still sort of stands, but at least now there is a proper introduction. All the chapters that were previously uploaded have been shifted back by one in order to accommodate the new prologue.

* * *

_**Konoha**_

Power comes in many forms. For Konoha, power often meant the strength of its bloodline techniques. Its Sharingan, its Byakugan, its Wood Element, and all the others of any note were certainly nothing to scoff at. What could one expect from a village founded by clans? Surprisingly, these bloodline limits were not the only power that Konoha loved and respected. No, hard work, pure genius, great knowledge, and effective teamwork were all well respected by the village hidden in the Leaf.

Unfortunately, none of these were available to one 12 year-old Naruto Uzumaki.

But he needed power. He needed it to become strong, to gain respect from his fellow villagers. For the same reason, he also sought to become the Hokage, the most powerful ninja in the village.

He was no fool however, not so naïve and gullible as his masked expressions would have you believe. He recognized the importance of secrecy in a world where knowledge of the ninja arts translated directly into power. He knew why Konoha had only a civilian library and practically no unguarded written materials on ninja arts.

But Naruto was a natural strategic genius. For 12 years, he had been ignored by his villagers, gone without parental love, and was treated as an outcast by his peers' parents. It was puzzling, yet he had always wanted to attribute the blatant avoidance of the villagers to his being an orphan. Nonetheless, he found compelled to be the best that he could be, and it was with this mindset that he lived his years hidden behind a mask of foolishness in honor of the first lesson of ninja: Deceive.

For years, he had searched and worked endlessly to discover how he might become strong. But, it seemed like a lost cause. Not only did mere Academy students lack access to any sort of serious ninja training materials in the first place, Naruto was also unable to master one of the few techniques that the Academy did teach: the Clone Jutsu.

"Why can't I make even a single clone? Why is this so much harder than the Replacement or Transformation?" vented a frustrated Naruto at his lonely apartment. "Because of this one stupid technique, I've failed the final academy exam twice already! It's not even all that useful, yet to pass, we need a passing grade in knowledge studies as well as all three of the basic Jutsu."

When he was young, Naruto was often visited by the Hokage, so often that Naruto called the aged ninja "Old Man" without consequence. He had always wondered why this was so, but still delighted in the visits. For a reason unknown to him, he had been allowed into the Academy, by permission from the Hokage, a year earlier than was the norm. Of course, it wasn't so early considering the practices back during the great Shinobi Wars that he learned about so often at the Academy. And that is how, at the ripe age of 9 years old, he attempted to take the exam for the first time and failed miserably because he had neglected his academic studies in favor of perfecting the three basic jutsu. Of course, he would still blame the Clone Jutsu, because in his mind, it was because he could not perfect that one that he could not focus on his academic studies.

Following that, he understood the four requirements for graduation, and sought to achieve a passing grade in all four. Unfortunately, most of his time was wasted trying to do the Clone Jutsu, and failed another time because his Clone Jutsu simply wouldn't work.

So he could do nothing but to relieve his boredom and frustration by pulling pranks and attempting to outmaneuver the ninja that came after him whenever he pulled one. Of course, that's not to say he did not enjoy the pranks for their own sake, which he did immensely. Especially _that_ transformation which he'd used on Iruka-sensei at the academy in front of all his classmates.

And that is the short story of how Naruto came to be walking towards the Academy for his third, and hopefully last genin exam. By this time, if he failed once more, then his age peers would graduate. That was unacceptable, so it was all he could do to try the exam once more at the same time as all the rest were being tested, even though he knew that he could not perform the Clone Jutsu yet. He would have to pay a visit to the Old Man if he failed again.

After a written exam, and performing the Replacement and Transformation, it came down to the final Jutsu.

"Alright Naruto, please create three Clones using the Clone Jutsu. If you can do that, then you will be able to proudly wear this headband," Iruka-sensei told him while pointing to the Leaf headband he had on the desk.

Both Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei watched him intently as he began the headseals.

"I'll definitely do it this time! Believe it!"

His chakra surged as three puffs of smoke materialized, and out emerged…

Two clones on the floor looking gagged, and one clone on its knees holding its stomach as if in immense pain.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but you fail," stated Iruka-sensei.

"Oh come on Iruka, you know how hard he's been working for this, and it's only one technique. Is it really so bad to let him pass?" Mizuki-sensei asked in sympathy for the blond.

"Rules are rules. Better luck next time Naruto. Keep working. You'll get it someday."

"Yeah…" was the reply.

Looking dejected, he dragged himself out of the examination room and slowly headed for the swings on the playground.

Both Iruka and Mizuki watched him for a while, before calling in the next examinee.

As he swung by himself on the swing, Naruto felt tears welling up, but suppressed them. He could see them all, pointing and staring, everybody who'd realized he failed the exam for a third time. It just wasn't fair, that a great mind like his was not allowed to continue because of one simple Jutsu that he could not perform. Of course, he knew that the problem lay with chakra control. The real question was, why did he not have the control? He was perfectly capable of sticking the leaf to his forehead as his teachers instructed, yet he failed the Clone Jutsu time and time again. Sure, he'd seen some progress, but it was so tiny it might as well take another 5 years before he'd get it down. It was mind boggling to him, because everybody else's progress was fine, and he was the sole exception. He did not have access to more advanced texts that could explain it, nor did his teachers have any idea of what could be causing the problem.

But he couldn't let himself give up. He would find some other way. He had to. It was time to see the Old Man and complain.

Just as he stood up, he finally noticed that Mizuki-sensei was quickly approaching him.

"Hey Naruto, don't feel so down, you know how Iruka is like. Such a stickler for the rules."

Immediately, Naruto became somewhat suspicious. Mizuki-sensei had never been this kind before.

Continuing, Mizuki-sensei said, "You know, there's another way to become a genin. You have to show that you can complete a mission like a real genin would, by stealing a certain scroll, then learning one technique from it. If you can do that, then you would pass. Do you want to give it a try?"

"Another way? How come nobody ever told me!" Naruto complained in a whiny voice.

"Well, Iruka wanted you to master the basics first, because ninja life is dangerous after all. So, do you want to get the instructions?"

Naruto's mind was racing. There was definitely something going on. While it was possible that a secret way existed, it was not likely. Then there was the fact that Mizuki-sensei had never seemed so nice before. He decided that only two possibilities existed: either the Old Man pulled some strings because he'd always seemed to favor Naruto, or Mizuki-sensei was lying. But either way, he'd probably gain from this. If Mizuki was lying, then he must have some objective. Naruto couldn't see how this could be useful to Mizuki unless… Mizuki wanted whatever scroll Naruto was supposed to steal. That meant it would be something valuable, and he did say that there would be techniques on it for Naruto to learn. And even if Naruto got into trouble, he could blame Mizuki, and none would be the wiser, considering the fool persona he'd built up over the years.

"OK, I'll do it! Believe it!"


	3. Genin

_**Konoha, Hokage Tower**_

Naruto walked briskly through to the Old Man's office.

"Hey Old Man! Still working on the never ending paperwork?"

"Hello Naruto, how did your exam go?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked while smiling lightly. The aged Hokage had grew fond of the boy over the years. Of course, it was his responsibility to care for the boy, but he also felt much personal attachment to him.

At the question, Naruto's face took on a sullen look.

"I still can't do the Clone Jutsu. I failed."

At once, the Third Hokage understood. It must have been awfully depressing for the young boy to fail yet again. Yet, there was not much that could be done for him unless a jounin sensei personally took interest. It had happened in the previous year with a boy named Rock Lee, who was simply unable to perform any ninjutsu or genjutsu. The only jounin sensei that would be willing to take a personal interest in Naruto would be one Hatake Kakashi, a student of the famed Fourth Hokage, who was a student of the Gallant Jiraiya of the Sannin, who was in turn a student of the Third. Unfortunately, due to the incident with the Uchiha clan, there was a great deal of pressure on the Copy ninja, as he was often called, to teach the last remaining Uchiha clan member the ways of the Sharingan. There would be complaints from the Council of Fire if he took a personal interest in somebody other than Sasuke Uchiha. Then again, the aged Hokage cared too much for Naruto to just let him fail once more. He silently resolved to have Kakashi teach the boy anyway.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Naruto. Have you made any progress on the technique since last time?"

"Yeah, but it's practically nothing! I can even do the leaf chakra exercise now, but I just can't get this! Why is that? Nobody else has this problem."

The Third thought for a moment. If the leaf chakra exercise was not helping, then other chakra exercises were not likely to help a significant deal either. He could not think of a way for him to master it, other than more hard work. On the other hand, if everything worked out, it wouldn't matter because he'd make sure Naruto becomes a genin. Perhaps he could do something else for him…

"If the leaf exercise is not helping, I don't really know what else could help you. You'll just have to keep working at it. In the meantime, let me show you a D-rank technique." The Third went on to show the single handsseal for the Body Flicker Jutsu and explained how to perform it.

Naruto was quite surprised by this act, but accepted it with glee.

"That's awesome! I'll have this mastered by the end of the week!" And he started to try the technique himself. Unfortunately, he proceeded to nearly slam into the Third's desk, but was stopped by the Third.

"I look forward to it, Naruto."

Naruto grinned sheepishly before exiting the room.

It was time to steal the scroll. He went to the stairwell before Transforming himself to be an ANBU. He was familiar with the importance of disguise, and knew readily that his usual, everyday, full orange jumpsuit would not be suitable for infiltration. The wonder of the orange jumpsuit was that it fit in with his image, and would throw suspicion off him. The reality of the ninja world was this: in a battle, whether or not clothing was flashy hardly mattered. It mattered only when one needed to hide and remain undetected. In such instances, performing a Transformation was child's play anyway, so it made all the more sense for him to wear flashy clothing so that he could Transform and have a contrast between his Transformation and his normal look. Besides it was far too difficult to hide his blond hair normally anyway, so what was the point of wearing dark clothes at all?

He then quickly located the room where the scroll that Mizuki instructed him to steal was located. He was able to easily escape notice due to his experience in dealing with Konoha's security for his pranks. He knew everything there was to know about the guards in the Hokage Tower, and the manner in which security ninja reacted. He grabbed the scroll and high-tailed out of the Tower and headed for the forest on the outskirts of Konoha.

He stopped at a random clearing. Jumping down from the trees, he sat down and held the scroll in anticipation. He knew what this scroll was the moment he set his eyes on it. Actually, how could he not when it was clearly written on the scroll? This was the Forbidden Scroll, so it was clear that Mizuki was a traitor. But rather than dwelling on that, it was time to learn and copy. He had little time to waste, since the village would be on high alert within the next couple of hours. And if not, surely Mizuki would alert the village to put the blame on Naruto.

He unfurled the scroll.

His eyes skimmed over the text until it reached the first technique listed: Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu. It required a unique cross-shaped hand seal and would produce large quantities of solid clones.

For the briefest of moments, Naruto wondered if this technique was right for him. After all, if he couldn't produce a normal Clone, how could he produce a solid clone? Then he realized that the jutsu was forbidden because it required too much chakra, and probably didn't need much control.

He continued reading. There was a brief description of the Shadow Clone Jutsu as well, the B-ranked version of this forbidden A-rank Jutsu.

As he continued, his fingers trembled as they ran over the text, letting the words sink in slowly. And in habit, his hands reached up to the goggles that he'd always worn over hair messy blond hair, goggles which were a substitute for the Leaf headband that he would one day wear. He knew that it was a risk to attempt the technique, but he had a feeling in his gut that he would be ok.

Two hours later, exhausted but happy, he closed his eyes and rested against the trunk of a tree, his lips slowly shifted to that of a smile—with genuine contentedness not felt for what seemed like millennia.

Perhaps, he had finally found his answer. It was funny, that after years of trying to access even the least restricted of scrolls, he would find his answer here, in the most restricted place of all: The Forbidden Scroll.

The technique was wonderful. It had far exceeded his expectations. There was simply so much versatility in this technique, that he had no doubt it was by far the best tool in his arsenal at the moment. While there were drawbacks such as equal splitting of chakra, the benefit of clone memory retention was simply too incredible. He could think of all sorts of ways to use it.

"Haha…hahaha! I almost can't believe I managed to learn this! And now I know why I can't do the Clone Jutsu too! Only because I have too much chakra!" He said to himself.

The rest of the Forbidden Scroll was mostly based on powerful sealing techniques. There were a few of note, but almost every other Jutsu listed had such high prices to be paid that they were not worth learning, and many did not have significant applications in usual ninja life. One interesting Jutsu, apparently the Second Hokage's Jutsu, was called "Impure World Resurrection", but it required live, prepared, human sacrifices. Compared to such techniques, the price of expending nearly all your chakra the way Mass Shadow Clone did was tiny. A few minutes later, he stood up again.

_About time somebody found me._

Suddenly Iruka jumped down from the trees and confronted Naruto: "What are you doing with the Forbidden Scroll Naruto?"

"Hey Iruka-sensei! I've mastered a Jutsu from the scroll, just like Mizuki-sensei said! Now I can become genin right?"

Naruto felt a strange amusement upon seeing the shocked look on Iruka's face. He had probably never guessed that Mizuki was a traitor.

"M-Mizuki? Why would he-"

A large shuriken flew out from the left. Mizuki followed right after.

"Give me the scroll Naruto."

"Huh? What's going on?" Naruto asked, pretending to be confused.

"No Naruto! Don't give it to him! Take the scroll back to Hokage-sama!"

"Shut up Iruka! Give me the scroll Naruto! Iruka doesn't care about you! Do you know why? He hates you, because of what's inside you."

"You know it's forbidden to speak of that, Mizuki!"

"Hehe…It's because… you're a demon! You are the Nine-Tailed Fox! That's why everybody in this village hates you!"

"Wh-What? What are you talking about?" Could it be true? Why would Mizuki think him to be the Fox? The information was as shocking as it was enlightening. So the way that everybody looked at him and ignored him was not just because he was an orphan after all.

"What the textbooks say is a lie. 12 years ago, the fourth Hokage didn't kill the Nine-Tails, he sealed it inside you. That's why you will always be hated in this village. Now hand over the scroll!"

Naruto tried to turn and run. Then Mizuki hauled out another Giant Shuriken and flung it at Naruto. Just as Naruto prepared a Replacement Jutsu, something intercepted the Shuriken. His eyes widened in shock. It was Iruka-sensei. He had taken the shot to protect Naruto.

"N-Naruto. Don't listen to him, t-take the scroll back to Hokage-sama."

Shocked by Iruka's self-sacrifice, Naruto was unable to respond.

The same could not be said of Mizuki, however. "Don't listen to Iruka! He hates you too, more than anybody else! You killed both of his parents, and left him an orphan!"

Naruto's eyes widened further in shock. He had never realized that Iruka was an orphan, and whose parents were killed by the Fox too. Did Iruka hate him too?

He decided to run again. Behind him, he heard Mizuki call out, "Why? Why are you protecting him, Iruka? The demon killed your parents! Demons will just trick you and destroy everything! They don't deserve help!"

Naruto decided now to stick around and hear the rest of the conversation. He hid behind a tree and performed a non-essential Academy Jutsu: The Cloak of Invisibility to blend in with the tree.

"Yeah, your right… a demon would do that. But Naruto's no demon! He's a good kid with a good heart and he'll be Hokage some day! That's why I'll protect him!"

Hearing those words, Naruto felt good. He never realized that Iruka-sensei cared so much. Perhaps… there was hope for him yet. Even if the Nine-tails really was sealed in him, if Iruka-sensei could see him as Naruto Uzumaki, then surely Naruto would be able to convince everybody else too.

"Enough! I'll kill you first, and then I'll kill the demon before being praised for ridding this village of the demon and its compatriot!" Mizuki took out a kunai and charged at Iruka, who still had the Giant Shuriken stuck in his back and who was unable to move well.

_Damn! I can't make it in time! What can I-_

Suddenly he dispelled his Cloak of Invisibility Jutsu, and put his hands together in the Ram seal, and looked at a tree on the opposite side of the clearing.

A moment later, Iruka watched as suddenly Mizuki disappeared and slammed into the tree Naruto was looking at earlier, while Naruto appeared in front of Iruka with his back to him. Briefly, Iruka wondered if Naruto had them both under a genjutsu the whole time, and Mizuki unwittingly ran into a tree as a result.

"Urgh… what the hell? How did I get over here?" Mizuki asked out loud as he got up again.

"You tried to hurt Iruka-sensei! I'll beat the crap out of you with my new Jutsu! Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And suddenly a massive smoke enveloped the forest clearing. Dissipating, it revealed what appeared to be an endless army of clones.

Both onlookers held an expression of surprise, with Mizuki cowering slightly in fear. He was stronger than your average chuunin, but he'd never had to fight an army before. Of course, he had little time to react before the Naruto and the clones all charged and attacked him.

"I'm so proud of you Naruto. Hey, close your eyes for a moment." Iruka said once the battle was over and Mizuki lay unconscious on the ground.

Feeling proud of himself as well, and having no reason to distrust Iruka now, Naruto obliged. Then he heard the rustling of cloth, before feeling Iruka removing his goggles, and replacing them with a Konoha headband.

"Congratulations, Naruto. You're a real ninja now."

Naruto felt tears well up for the second time that day. And unlike before, he did not suppress them. Instead, he sniffed while exclaiming, "Oh yeah! I did it! This is awesome, I really passed! Thank you so much Iruka-sensei!"

A light chuckle escaped Iruka's mouth as Naruto proceeded to hug him. He ruffled Naruto's hair and said, "How about I treat you to some ramen after I get this shuriken out of my back, ok?"

"Ramen! Yeah!"

* * *

_**Konoha, Hospital**_

The two had a discussion with the Third Hokage while Iruka was being treated by medic-nin.

"I'm very proud of you too Naruto. To think that you mastered an A-rank Jutsu in under two hours. Most impressive. Don't worry, I won't blame you for listening to your superior about the scroll. In fact, I'll have this recorded as your first B-rank mission and pay accordingly."

"Wow really? That's awesome, Old Man! You want to join us for ramen later tonight?"

"I'm afraid not today Naruto; much work is to be done especially regarding today's events. Maybe next time." The aged ninja said while smiling. It turned out that he would not have to get Kakashi to take a personal interest in the boy after all. The boy was quite surprising sometimes, and this was definitely one of those moments.

* * *

_**Konoha, Ichiraku Ramen Stand**_

"It'll only get tougher from here on out Naruto. Ninja life is tough after all. Think you're ready for it?"

"Of course I am! I'm one step closer to being Hokage! Believe it!" Silently he mused that it would probably actually get easier from here, now that he had access to Shadow Clones. He had never found anything of the ninja arts difficult, aside from the one Clone Jutsu. And now that would no longer be a problem for him.

"By the way Naruto, what exactly did you do back there, before you used your Shadow Clones?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It was genjutsu right? When you Mizuki was charging at me and the next moment he charged into a tree in the opposite direction. When did you learn how to do that?"

Oh. Iruka thought it was genjutsu? Now there was an interesting thought. It wasn't genjutsu at all in fact. He had merely thought of the physics of the Replacement Jutsu, and figured that the momentum of the objects being replaced might also carry over to the other object after the replacement. This was because, at a fundamental level, the Body Flicker was not Space-Time ninjutsu, but was rather high-speed movement in one direction accomplished through enhancing the body with chakra. It turns out he was right. Although, even if that didn't happen, he was mere intending on using the Replacement Jutsu to move Mizuki so that he wouldn't be able to hit Iruka. But there now existed many interesting ways to apply this new knowledge, and even more if it seemed like a genjutsu to Iruka. He supposed that it would certainly seem that way, because the Konoha Body Flicker uses leaves as part of the effect rather than smoke. As a result, it had many similarities with genjutsu that used leaves to obscure the victim's view before subjecting them to the illusion. So when Iruka saw Mizuki and Naruto appear in new positions suddenly with a whirlwind of leaves, he must've automatically thought genjutsu. In fact, if Iruka thought so, then it would be all the more true for the victim Mizuki. Perhaps he would call his new technique… the False Position Jutsu. That was to continue the tradition with having "False" in the name of genjutsu techniques in order to confuse others trying to discover the secret to his technique. Though it probably wouldn't work on higher level ninja who can feel themselves being pulled by the Replacement Jutsu.

"Oh _that_. Well a ninja never reveals all his secrets!"

"Oh, you can tell me Naruto, I'm really curious."

"Nope, no way! I'm just following your lessons Iruka-sensei! See, I do pay attention!"

"Haha… alright, I suppose I should be glad that you're taking your lessons to heart."

Before he went to sleep that day, he made multiple Shadow Clones to see if they would stay active when he himself went to sleep. If they did, then they would go out and practice to perfect the Body Flicker, before doing the leaf exercise again. Theoretically, even if he were to improve at the ridiculously slow rate he'd been at for the last couple of years, he would still eventually master the Clone Jutsu given enough time and Shadow Clone training. That kind of chakra control would be useful.

And thus ended Naruto's last day as an Academy student.

* * *

**A/N**: All Jutsu, except for the newly created, so-called False Position Jutsu, are found in canon. Unless I cannot find out what the English name of the Jutsu is, I will always use the English names. You may check Naruto Wikia for details on these Jutsu.

A note on the Body Flicker and Body Replacement: I realize that on the Naruto Wikia that it says the Replacement "…lets the user quickly switch places with another nearby object, such as a plant (normally a section of a log), an animal, or even another **person within reach using the Body Flicker Technique**, the moment an attack hits."

However, the Body Flicker is not listed as a Derived or related Jutsu, and the Body Flicker is in fact a higher ranking Jutsu. This suggests that the terminology merely refers to the range of both techniques. In order words, if you can Body Flicker to a location, you can also replace yourself, using Body Replacement, with an object at the same distance, and vice versa. Grammar-wise, that is also how the statement should be properly interpreted since there is no comma before the word "using" in the quote from Naruto Wikia.

About Naruto's power level, I can't really comment on how strong he will end up. I can say that as a result of the premise I set forth in chapter one, he cannot simply use Shadow Clones to read everything and get strong that way because in my story (and presumably in canon too), written materials on the ninja arts are practically non-existent and/or normally accessible only by chuunin and higher level ninja who would no longer have a jounin sensei. Since it would be a crime to gain unauthorized access, Naruto will not do it unless he is certain that he will not be caught at all, or the benefits outweigh the risks greatly.

And lastly, I will probably skip some events that are not plot-relevant, even though they are assumed to happen. I will notify you via author notes where canon events do not apply. By such events, I mean events like Naruto disguising himself as Sasuke and telling Sakura that her forehead is wonderful. It's not relevant enough for me to bore you with it, though it is nonetheless assumed to happen in the same way as in canon.

Actually, there's one more thing. Hopefully, everything in this story will have some purpose (ie, they will progress the plot).

Thus, there will be no "bashing" of any sort in this story. Anything that appears to be bashing is obviously serving some plot point, so you may want to pay attention to that. Pairings, deaths, and anything else you can think of will end up having a purpose if I've written this properly. That's not to say those will actually occur though.

**EDIT**: July 4, 2011 - Fixed error regarding Rock Lee's chakra coils.


	4. Clones and Allies

_**Konoha, Hokage Monument**_

It had been two days since the incident with the Forbidden Scroll, and tomorrow was the day that the Academy graduates would get their assigned teams.

Naruto was lying on the ground on top of the Hokage monument, on the Fourth's head. He relaxed while observing the clouds and thinking about all the progress he'd made in the past two days. With the addition of merely two Jutsu, Naruto felt as though he were hundreds of times stronger than before. It was really the Shadow Clone that made him feel this way.

The versatility of the Shadow Clone was incredible. Its usefulness extended into all areas: training, labor, fighting, and lots more. The ability to consolidate memories en masse after a training session with many clones exponentially increased his total effective training time. With his massive chakra reserves, he could produce a hundred clones without endangering himself in any way, but he would be in danger if he made any more. What's more, the clones stayed active even while he slept. As a result, he was now able to exploit previously inaccessible time during sleep.

At the moment, he was using a few clones to read books at the civilian library just in case he ever found anything remotely useful. The rest of his clones were all doing the leaf chakra exercise and he had already seen substantial improvement in his control. This was obvious because he realized that the same number of clones that he produced the first day did not deplete as much of his chakra on the second day.

A multitude of plans for the Shadow Clone Jutsu existed in his mind, but for now he would just head to the Old Man's and show him his perfected Body Flicker.

* * *

_**Konoha, Hokage's Office**_

"Hey Old Man! I finished that Jutsu you gave me!"

"Hello Naruto, you have mastered the Body Flicker?"

"Yep! Want to see? Let me show you!"

Putting his hands together in the Ram seal, Naruto disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves and reappeared on top of the desk in front of the Old Man.

If he was surprised, the Old Man's face did not show it, though a slight smile was visible. "My, my, you learned that one real fast. But you'll have to keep working hard if you want to become Hokage."

Jumping off the desk, Naruto proceeded to yell out, "Sexy Jutsu!"

Instantly the aged ninja known as the "Professor" fell backwards with blood leaking from his nose.

"Ha! If I can defeat that easily already, I'll take your hat in no time!" declared Naruto.

While the Hokage chuckled as he got up again, the door suddenly busted open and a boy with a scarf barged in. "Alright I'm going to defeat you now and become Hoka-" Then the boy tripped onto the ground face-first. "-Oompf!"

Both Naruto and the Old Man sweat dropped at the display.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going first," deadpanned Naruto.

"Argh! You tripped me! I'll kick your butt!"

"What? No, you just tripped yourself. Don't blame me."

Ignoring Naruto's protest, the boy launched himself at Naruto. "Hey! Cut it out you brat!" Naruto then grabbed the boy's collar raised his other hand in a fist as if to hit him.

Suddenly a man dressed in black with black sunglasses was at the door. "You there! Stop at once! Don't you know who that is? That's the Honorable Grandson of Hokage-sama!"

Naruto looked at the boy in front of him. He couldn't see much of a resemblance, but maybe that was just because the Old Man was… Old.

Then the boy scoffed, "Heh, scared to hit me now?"

"I don't care if the Old Man's your grand_mother_! Don't go blaming me and attacking me when it's your own fault!" The boy suddenly met Naruto's fist and flew back.

"Ugh…," he boy uttered, trying to get up.

The man at the door rushed to the boy's side, "How dare you strike the Honorable Grandson!" Unfortunately for him, Naruto was already out the door. Then the boy was also out the door. "Wait! Honorable Grandson, where are you going?"

* * *

As soon as Naruto stepped out of the Hokage Tower, he heard loud footsteps ringing behind him.

_That kid! He's following me!_

Then he smirked before disappearing in a whirlwind of leaves. _Got to love Body Flicker_.

* * *

_**Konoha, Near Hokage Monument**_

Naruto walked along a grassy plain near the Hokage Monument. Then he noticed that somebody was lying on the grass. He walked over.

"Hey Shikamaru, what're you doing over here!" Naruto greeted his classmate. He could also call him a friend, he supposed. Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba had often gotten into trouble together in the Academy for ditching class. He had never been treated badly when he was with them.

"Huh? Oh, hey Naruto."

"You didn't answer my question!"

A sigh. "Relaxing before I can't anymore." Then the boy known as Shikamaru noticed the headband on Naruto's forehead. "Hey, where'd you get the headband, Naruto?"

"Oh this?" Naruto looked up and pointed at his Leaf headband. Then he grinned at Shikamaru before saying, "Iruka-sensei gave me a make-up test and I passed! Now I'm a genin just like you!"

"Eh..troublesome…" But inside, Shikamaru was intrigued. He had never heard of make-up tests for the genin exam before. There was always something odd about Naruto. He was probably hiding something. It didn't really concern Shikamaru though, so he didn't ask any more.

Naruto walked over to Shikamaru before asking, "Hey, why did you want to become a ninja, Shikamaru?"

"Hm? I didn't."

"Oh. That sounds just like you."

"Why do you ask?"

Ignoring his question, Naruto continued, "But me, I had always wanted to gain respect."

"And now?"

"I don't really know. I'm still searching for an answer, I suppose." A classic trust increasing tactic. Reveal something about yourself first, and the other would feel much more open. Naruto had noticed long ago that Shikamaru was intelligent, perhaps even more so than himself. But he had always been too lazy to do anything. But the more intelligent somebody was, the greater the likelihood of being open-minded as well. Out of all the Academy graduates, Shikamaru Nara had perhaps the greatest potential to be helpful to Naruto, and also the greatest potential to be a strong ninja. Other than Naruto himself of course. Naruto decided to take a big step forward on that day. If there was any hope for Naruto to become respected as a ninja rather than the Nine-Tails' container, it would start with the new generation, and especially those who are intelligent enough to recognize the difference between a seal and the sealed.

"You're my friend right, Shikamaru?"

"Huh? Yeah, I guess…"

Naruto stared at Shikamaru intensely. "I'm going to tell you something. It's an S-Rank secret about me punishable by death if revealed by anyone other than me."

"That sounds troublesome…"

"The Nine-Tailed Fox is alive. The Fourth Hokage didn't kill it; it was sealed into a newborn baby. Me."

Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise. He had never expected anything like that. But it didn't seem like Naruto was lying. No, it couldn't be a prank. Naruto was serious. He briefly wondered why the blond chose to confide in him.

"Is-is that why you pulled all those pranks? To get attention because nobody wanted anything to do with you?"

The pained expression Naruto's face told the tale.

"I told you about this because I know you're smart. Maybe you've even figured it out before, I don't know. But, will you still be my friend?"

A moment's hesitation. But that was all. Naruto was right after all, Shikamaru was smart enough to know that Naruto was just the container for the Nine-Tails, and ought to have been praised as a hero.

"Yeah, yeah I will," he stated firmly.

Naruto had a wide grin on his face. "I'm glad. Want to play shogi some time?"

"Shogi? I didn't know you played."

"I don't. You'll have to teach me."

"Troublesome…"

* * *

_**Konoha, Forest Clearing on the Outskirts**_

Naruto was back at the forest clearing where he'd defeated Mizuki. This spot had become a favorite of his. There were good memories made here. Whenever he felt happy, he would either come here, or go on top head of the Fourth Hokage on the Monument.

Now, he was happy; happy because, he'd managed to gain a truly valuable ally. He wouldn't have to keep up his mask with Shikamaru either. As soon as he gets the chance, he'd find some way to help Shikamaru to strengthen their bond.

"Aha! I finally found you! Teach me that Jutsu you used to defeat the Old Man!"

"Huh? Oh it's you. Why the hell should I?"

"… please?"

"Why do you want to defeat him so bad anyway?"

"Because-because I want to be respected!"

"Respected?" That sounded awfully like what Naruto had wanted before he realized that he was the container of the Nine-Tails and that he would need respect _before_ anybody would let him become Hokage.

"Yeah. Everybody calls me Honorable Grandson. It might sound stupid to you because it looks like everyone respects me, but nobody does it because they respect _me_. They respect the Old Man, but not me. Nobody's ever called me by my name, Konohamaru."

"It doesn't sound stupid to me, Konohamaru. But I don't think you're going about it the right way. Just because you can defeat the Old Man with my trick doesn't mean you deserve the title of being Hokage."

"What do you mean?"

"If you want to become Hokage, you have to be truly strong. He's the strongest ninja in the village after all. And to do that, you have to work hard at it, and never give up! One Jutsu won't cut it if you really want to be Hokage. It's not the Hokage you have to beat, Konohamaru. It's the bad guys that want to hurt our village!"

"Huh… I never thought about it like that."

"If you work hard and get strong, people will respect you anyway. But if you want, I can still teach you my Jutsu."

"Really boss? That's awesome!"

"Yeah, watch this: Sexy Jutsu!"

A naked blond girl covered by only lines of clouds now replaced Naruto. A puff of smoke. Naruto reappeared.

"Woah!"

"Ok, then, here's how to do it…"

* * *

"You! What have you been teaching the Honorable Grandson, you punk!"

"He's been teaching me a lot more than you ever have!"

"That stuff he taught you is vulgar and stupid! You can never use it in battle."

"Sexy Jutsu!" Konohamaru shouted while transforming into a naked girl.

"Th-that won't work on a respectable ninja like me!" The special trainer known as Ebisu claimed while walking closer and holding his nose if as trying to stop a nosebleed.

"Why isn't it working boss?"

Perhaps he would have to take it up another notch. He couldn't disappoint his new little minion, after all.

"Alright, watch how it's done! Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And then collective clones yelled, "Sexy Jutsu!"

And suddenly the forest was covered in naked blond girls that started latching onto Ebisu.

"Ah-AHHHH!" Ebisu yelled as he skyrocketed backwards with a gigantic nosebleed trailing.

"Hah! That'll teach him."

"Wow, that was awesome boss!"

"I call it, the Harem Jutsu."

* * *

_**Konoha, Naruto's Apartment**_

There was something bugging him about what happened earlier with the Harem Jutsu. But somehow, Naruto just couldn't put his finger on it. It felt important. It felt like something crucial that he was missing, but would surely be able to use. But, alas, nothing could be done.

His clones had done a great deal of training that day, and would continue to improve his chakra control overnight. A lot of progress was being made. At the library, not so much. On the other hand, one of his clones did come upon an interesting book. It wasn't particularly helpful, but it was interesting nonetheless.

While searching for anything ninja related, he'd found a fictional book called "Tale of the Gutsy Ninja". It was inspiring. A great read. It seemed like the kind of ninja that Naruto would want to be one day. But what really caught his eye, were two things. One, the book was written by the toad sage Jiraiya of the Sannin. He had never known that the man had written anything other than erotica. And two, the main character of the book was named…

Naruto.

What a coincidence. It was definitely his favorite book so far. This wasn't available at any of the bookstores in Konoha, so he'd have to "lose" the book and pay the library a fine.

As he slept that night, he dreamed of a moon with a strange pattern of concentric circles and many tomoe.

* * *

**A/N**: This is not a Yaoi story. Just because Naruto's trying to make Shikamaru an ally doesn't mean they will be in a relationship.

Anybody want to try and guess what it was that Naruto noticed about the Harem Jutsu but couldn't quite put his finger on it? Here's a hint: It will lead to the discovery of another important Jutsu (not-original, but because he discovers it on his own, he will think it is).

**Edit November 13, 2010**: Thanks to RamenKnight for helping to spot some grammar mistakes. It seems I rushed this chapter a little, and I ended up finding a couple of other mistakes here and there. Nothing that impacts the story has been changed though. Now that I looked over it again, it's really annoying that some formatting gets changed after the upload. But I'll be careful in the future, believe it!


	5. Two Bells

_**Konoha, Ninja Academy**_

Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno watched as Naruto set up a trap at the door to the classroom. The three had waited over two hours for the arrival of their new jounin sensei, Kakashi Hatake.

When Naruto had come to the meeting for the graduates that day, there was some surprise among the class. He had decided to sit down beside Sasuke Uchiha, the last member of the Uchiha clan and one who rarely spoke. Then usual shouting match over who would get to sit beside Sasuke ensued between Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, two girls that were infatuated with their class's number one rookie. Unfortunately for Naruto, he also happened to have a crush on Sakura Haruno so it was much to his dismay when she ordered him to move so that she could take the spot. What followed was a rather embarrassing incident with Sasuke that he would never speak of again.

"Naruto, you idiot! You'll get us into trouble!" The pink haired girl who wore a full length red Cheongsam scolded.

"Oh come on! He deserves it for being so late!"

Meanwhile, the black haired boy who wore a blue shirt and black shorts said nothing.

Naruto walked back towards a chair and sat down, waiting once again.

A few moments later, a silver haired ninja with his headband covering his left eye walked in while reading an orange book. If he noticed the trap, he didn't show it at all. An eraser fell on his head and he looked up from his book.

"My first impression is… I hate you all. Meet me on the roof in two minutes." The jounin stated with a cheery expression. Or at least as cheery as he could be made out to be with a full mask covering the bottom portion of his face.

Sakura Haruno gulped, fearing that her new sensei would them badly.

Sasuke Uchiha was surprised that the jounin did not notice the trap, but got up anyways to go to the roof.

Naruto Uzumaki ran out the room to head to the roof. He was anxious to see whether this sensei would treat him properly. He had read about the exploits of Sharingan Kakashi, the man who was rumored to have mastered over a thousand Jutsu. He was the genius who made chuunin at six years old, jounin at thirteen years old; and who trained under the legendary Fourth Hokage.

* * *

"Why don't you introduce yourselves? Tell me your name, your likes and dislikes, your hobbies, and your dreams. Let's start with you, pinky," said the jounin while keeping his eyes on his book.

"Um, sensei, can you give us an example?"

"Oh... me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. What I like... I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future..hmm... never really thought about that..as for my hobbies... well I have a lot of hobbies."

The three students all sweat dropped. Naruto decided to introduce himself.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like Sakura-chan, training, and ramen! I hate the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook. My hobbies are training and eating ramen! My dream is to be the greatest Hokage ever!" He stood up and pumped his fist into the air at the end of his little speech.

The jounin quirked his only visible eyebrow; his thought was that the blond had developed in an interesting manner.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like…hehe…umm I hate Naruto! ….my hobbies…-" Sakura giggled out while Kakashi sweat dropped, Naruto cringed, and Sasuke's face held an expression of annoyance.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like nothing. I dislike many things. My hobby is to train. As for my dream, I wouldn't call it a dream. It's more of an ambition. I will revive my clan and… kill a certain man." Sasuke stated in an eerily creepy voice, while Sakura had stars in her eyes, Naruto sweatdropped, and Kakashi sighed.

"Well then, we will have a survival training session tomorrow."

"Survival training? What kind, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"It is a test to determine whether you can become a genin."

"Wh-What! But we already graduated! What the hell!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That was only to weed out those who had no chance of becoming ninja. The real test has a 66% failure rate, and it's administered by your jounin sensei, which in this case, is me."

"…!"

"Meet me at training ground three tomorrow at seven o'clock." He turned and started to leave. "Oh, before I forget, don't eat breakfast tomorrow, you'll just throw it up." Then he Body Flickered out of there.

"Oh man, we just graduated and now there's another test! That's so unfair!" Naruto complained. Sakura then tried to ask Sasuke out, was refused, and the three parted ways.

* * *

_**Konoha, Training Ground Three**_

Naruto walked around the training ground, memorizing the layout. It was always a good idea to be prepared, and this was one way to do it. Other than this, there was little he could do because he did not know what the test was going to be about. In the world of ninja, survival could mean anything.

Reflecting on his new team, Team Seven, he wondered if Kakashi Hatake was chosen specifically for him and Sasuke. The way Sasuke was now, it was evident that unless something changed, he would go down a dark path. Perhaps Kakashi Hatake was there to help him. After all, he must've gotten the Sharingan eye from somebody, most likely an Uchiha teammate. He would be able to understand and help Sasuke. At the same time, being a student under the legendary seal master the Fourth Hokage no doubt afforded Kakashi some skill in that area. He could probably help Naruto keep the Nine-Tails at bay if anything were to happen. So far, Naruto hadn't felt any hostility from the man, so that was a good thing.

Suddenly he felt a rush of memories from his clones. It seemed that a clone had the brilliant idea of sticking his feet to trees rather than sticking a leaf to the forehead. As a result, his clones had been attempting to walk up trees for the whole morning.

Naruto decided to try it himself. He stuck his foot on the wall and concentrated. Then he walked up a step. Then he walked up several more steps before accidently using too much chakra and then his foot went into the tree. Fortunately, his other foot was still fine, so he pulled out his foot and kept going all the way to the top.

Realizing that there was nothing else for him to do here, Naruto jumped down and walked off to get some ninja supplies.

* * *

_**Konoha, Naruto's Apartment**_

Naruto decided that he would not make any new clones that night. If the test was to determine whether he could become genin, then he'd have to be in top shape, and have full chakra.

* * *

_**Konoha, Training Ground Three**_

The genin of Team Seven once again waited several hours for their sensei to arrive. All three had skipped breakfast.

It was nearly eleven o'clock by now. Naruto had been tempted to eat breakfast this morning, but decided against it because he didn't want to seem as though he were insubordinate. The problem was, he scattered Shadow Clones around the training ground before he arrived so that he could be fully prepared. Unfortunately, this meant he was extra hungry from the use of chakra earlier.

"Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life," the jounin sensei of Team Seven said as he poofed into existence.

The genin sweat dropped.

"In any case, let's get started right away." He then held up two bells. "Each of you must grab one of these bells to pass. You have until noon. If you manage to get the bells, you may then eat the lunches I brought which I have placed over there, " he said while pointing to the three wooden posts behind the three genin.

_When did he place those there? I didn't notice at all…_

While Naruto wondered, Sakura asked, "But there's only two bells, sensei."

"Yes. That means that one of you will fail and go back to the Academy."

The eyes of the three genin all widened in surprise. Naruto decided to attack while the jounin's guard was down.

He rushed forward with a kunai and threw it at the jounin. Suddenly the jounin disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto with a kunai to Naruto's throat.

"Mah… I haven't told you to start yet. But I'm glad you're taking this seriously. If you want to get these bells from me, you must have the intention to kill. Ok then, now… start!"

Sakura and Sasuke went into hiding while Naruto jumped forward and turned around to face the jounin.

"Why aren't you hiding, Naruto?"

"Come on, you and me right now! I'll take you!"

"You're a weird one aren't you? But alright."

"The only weird thing around here is your face!" Then he threw a smoke bomb on the ground, held his hands in the cross seal and whispered, "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Two Shadow Clones popped into existence beside him. One dispelled immediately.

The remaining clone charged out of the smoke bomb to attack Kakashi, who put his hand into his weapons pouch, and pulled out…an orange book. The man was unsure what exactly Naruto was trying to do, but knew that Naruto ranked as the dead-last in the Academy so he wasn't concerned.

"Time for lesson one…Taijutsu."

The clone threw a several punches at the jounin, only for all of them to be dodged easily. Then one punch was grabbed and the clone was flung forward onto the ground. Catching himself just in time, the clone got up again. In the next moment, Kakashi was suddenly behind him, book held closed between his hands, with his fingers held in the Tiger seal.

From the forest, Sasuke's eyes widened as he recognized that seal to be often used in fire release Jutsu.

"Hidden Leaf Village Secret Taijutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi yelled out before striking the clone in the anal area with two chakra enhanced fingers. To his surprise, the clone burst into smoke. Then he heard something drop to the ground behind him and turned around to see that smoke was once again produced.

Not a second later, a bright flash enveloped the training ground. Kakashi and observers were all temporarily blinded. At that same moment, four kunai with sizzling exploding tags landed near Kakashi, surrounding him. A massive explosion rocked the training ground seconds later.

* * *

Naruto was now glad that he had hid clones around the training ground, and that he was able to coordinate the throwing exploding tags by creating and dispelling a clone to communicate with his existing clones. If he could, he would've given himself a pat on the back for such a well executed plan. And the flash bomb inside the smoke bomb! It was perfect! Too bad the jounin was good enough to perform a Replacement Jutsu while blind. Actually, the jounin had probably taken note of objects he could replace himself with before the battle started. Nonetheless, the jounin's reflexes were nothing to scoff at. The problem was, beating such a famous and powerful ninja was an impossible task for fresh genin. While Naruto managed to defeat Mizuki, Kakashi's skill was on a whole other level.

In the end, he decided to observe how his teammates fared before getting back into the action.

* * *

Sakura was confused when she was suddenly blinded while watching the fight between Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. She was more confused when a loud explosion shook the ground right after. And now, she was confused yet again to see her crush Sasuke lying on the ground as if he were dead. Panicking, she did the only thing she could think of, rush to Sasuke to try and help him.

Unfortunately for her, that Sasuke was merely a result of Kakashi's genjutsu: Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing. Doubly unfortunately, Kakashi was not going to go easy on her. She was prompted knocked out.

"Lesson two… Genjutsu," Kakashi said out loud.

* * *

Seeing that both his teammates' already fought Kakashi, Sasuke decided that he too would have to leap into the fray. While he was unsure of what exactly happened between Naruto and Kakashi following the flash, he couldn't just sit around forever. Time was running out, and he needed a bell.

So the moment that Kakashi looked as if he were off guard, Sasuke activated a shuriken trap. But it wouldn't be that easy. A simple Replacement Jutsu and the trap was avoided. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him, and quickly turned while jumping back out into the open. Kakashi soon followed and the two engaged in a taijutsu match.

After attempting several punches and kicks, Sasuke's finger skimmed a bell, but was forced to jumped back again.

"Not bad Sasuke, but still not good enough."

"I'm not like the others," Sasuke declared.

"Well, we'll see about that."

With that, Sasuke ran through a series of hand seals for a fire Jutsu. Kakashi instantly recognized it and his eyes widened slightly in surprised. He didn't think that a genin could have enough chakra to perform such a technique.

'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!' Sasuke thought as he breathed in deeply and exhaled a massive fireball directly at Kakashi-sensei.

The flames engulfed Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke wondered if he had killed the man. When the technique finished however, the jounin was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke looked around him and was unable to locate his sensei, but then felt strong hands grip his feet and he was pulled into the ground.

"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapacitation Jutsu," drawled Kakashi, while coming up from the ground. "Lesson three…Ninjutsu." He received only a glare from Sasuke in response.

* * *

It was impossible. Absolutely, impossible, Naruto decided. There was simply no way for him to defeat the jounin at his current level. No, the test itself was ridiculous. Maybe…he could try the Sexy Jutsu. No, that would not work either. Naruto recognized the orange book that the silver-haired jounin carried around. It was from the Come Come Paradise series, which was incredibly popular among men and women in Konoha—and he knew this because it was constantly being restocked at the bookstores. But nobody would be daring enough to read the books in public, which this jounin did. If he was capable of doing that without being embarrassed, then Sexy Jutsu would not work on him.

There had to be some other goal. The whole idea of matching fresh genin in a battle against a seasoned jounin was just ridiculous. This was supposedly a test chosen by the jounin themselves. In that case, if the test was really this difficult, the man would never be allowed to be a jounin sensei. In other words, the whole test was baloney, and they did not each need a bell to pass. Perhaps… they merely had to work together as a three-man cell should, and overlook the fact that only two of them could go on. That sounded reasonable. Unfortunately, neither of his teammates was likely to work with him. That was probably his own fault, he supposed, for keeping the mask of a fool for the past few years.

Oh but he was hungry, and only two lunch boxes were available. He'd have to work with the other two somehow… but he would steal the lunch first to avoid fighting over the lunches after they pass.

* * *

"You three are not going back to the Academy," Kakashi declared to his three students, one of whom was tied up to a stump for attempting to steal the lunches before the test was over.

"In fact, all of you should just quit being ninja!"

One genin looked uncomfortable, while the other two looked indignant, as if they wanted to say something back.

"Do any of you know what the purpose of this test was? Do you? It was teamwork! And none of you had that today! You Naruto, didn't even try to communicate with your teammates before attacking me. You Sakura, didn't bother to help Naruto at all when you saw him fight, and only ran to cry beside the defeated Sasuke you saw. And you Sasuke, didn't try to help either of your teammates, thinking that they were useless."

"Bu-But there were only two bells and that we each needed one to pass!" Sakura protested.

"That was done on purpose. You have to be able to look underneath the underneath. I will give you one more chance to get the bells after this. Sakura and Sasuke, you two can eat the lunches. Do not give any to Naruto, or I will fail you immediately." With that, the jounin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who looked very hungry. Then, in an uncharacteristic manner, he shoved his lunch box towards Naruto and said, "Here, eat."

"Sasuke?" Sakura questioned, somewhat apprehensive because he was going against orders.

"He won't be helpful if he's fighting on an empty stomach."

"Oh…OK, here, take some of mine too, Naruto."

"Ah…could you feed me, Sakura-chan?"

"What! Why?"

"Um… I can't move my hands…"

"Oh, alright, but just this once!" She proceeded to feed Naruto.

Suddenly Kakashi reappeared in another puff of smoke, looking angry and menacing.

"You three…!" he said in a dangerous voice. "…pass!" he continued with a cheerful expression.

"Huh?" Naruto and Sakura said in unison.

"Come with me." He untied Naruto and led the three to a stone with many names written on it.

"On here are the names of many heroes."

Naruto walked towards the memorial, and touched the stone with his fingers. He wondered if the names of his father and mother would be on here. He had never found any records of his clan name, but the way the Old Man treated him was far too suspicious for him to just be a no-name orphan. His heritage was probably concealed for his own safety. One day he would find out.

_Or perhaps, I already have._

He thought that while looking towards the Hokage Monument off the in the distance. If only his greatest idol truly were his father…

"Many of my friends and comrades' names are listed here. You probably have some family members or friends on here too. All of them died in the line of duty, to protect this village. In the world of ninja, those who do not follow the rules are scum, but those who abandon their teammates are even worse than scum. Remember that."

Kakashi turned to look at the three genin. "Tomorrow, we begin our first mission. Rest up tonight, and we'll meet at Training Ground three again at seven o'clock."

* * *

_**Konoha, Naruto's Apartment**_

It had been an exhausting day, largely because he had been starving for half of it. As Naruto reflected on the battle with Kakashi, he suddenly had an epiphany.

_That's it! I didn't specifically equip my clones with exploding tags, but they all had the tags with them! What's more, they exploded just like authentic explosion seals would!_

He finally realized what he had been missing during his "fight" using the Harem Jutsu. Every single clone that had transformed remained solid even in the transformation. And today, he saw that weapons such as kunai and even seals were duplicated when using the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The seals probably worked because the whole entity was constructed of chakra, and seals functioned by manipulating chakra in patterns, the same way that hand seals did. And the reason that Shadow Clone transformation stayed solid was probably also because of the fact that the whole clone was a chakra construct, and thus differed from conventional Transformation Jutsu used on oneself. As a result, if he wanted to, he could create clones and have them transform in order to clone objects en masse, especially weapons for use in battle. But that would be a waste of chakra, so he would have to figure out how to clone weapons directly—and he knew this had to be possible because otherwise, weapons would not have been duplicated along with the clone in the first place. On the other hand, he could also keep clones hidden on his person by disguising them as other objects.

One thing he would have to test out is whether or not cloning would work on an object he was not completely familiar with; for example, a book or a scroll. Today, the explosion seals were cloned because Naruto had previously attempted to draw them himself while exploring fuinjutsu. He had originally dismissed fuinjutsu as being too difficult to use in battle, and too difficult to find information on. But now, one of the two problems was no longer an issue if he could duplicate seals using clones. The other part might also be dealt with if he could learn from Kakashi, who might know a little something of seals, if Naruto's hunch—about Kakashi being specifically chosen to be Team Seven's sensei—was right. Even if not, at least now he wouldn't have to buy as many explosion seals.

That night, a clone at the library tried and failed to use Shadow Clone to duplicate a book that he had never read before. It came out as a blank copy. A portion continued with chakra exercises, except now they were doing tree-walking and leaf concentration at the same time. The rest of his clones dedicated themselves to practicing what he dubbed the Shuriken and Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu.

And one clone had a brilliant idea about clones and explosion seals that would go on to become the second independently re-invented Jutsu that Naruto acquires, albeit done a little differently.

* * *

**A/N**: If you are wondering, Naruto's crush on Sakura is real. Pigs will fly (and I don't mean Ino-pig) when the day comes that humans can control who their first crush is. Doesn't mean they will get together.

Kudos goes to Demonkid for guessing correctly about the Harem Jutsu.

Anybody want to try and guess what the brilliant idea was that the clone had? Here's a hint: Two missing-nin have their own versions of this Jutsu.

Oh and, in a small part of the **next chapter**, Naruto will have an opportunity to create a Shadow Clone outside the village and send it off to explore the ninja world. I am currently **accepting suggestions** for where you would like this clone to visit, and who he might encounter. However, keep in mind that this clone is not permanent. It can be dispelled normally by physical injury, but Naruto will have a method of recharging the clone's chakra, as well as a method of communication. As long as it is not the Land of Whirlpools, I am open to any suggestions.


	6. Heading Out

**A/N:** In this chapter, some scenes are skipped because they are simply repeating canon. However, the first major divergence that is also clearly visible will be happening in this chapter.

* * *

_**Konoha, Near Hokage Monument**_

"Ahh! Why are you so good at this Shika?"

"Meh…who knows?"

Naruto scrunched up his face in an expression of concentration as Shikamaru reordered the shogi board for another round. After doing a large number of un-inspiring D-rank missions, Naruto was itching to relieve his boredom. The same was true for the lazy Nara. The two had taken to playing shogi between breaks during the day, especially for lunch.

"Mm, Shikamaru's always been-mhm-good at shogi," Ch oji Akimichi said while munching on chips. He and Shikamaru were on Team Eight along with Ino Yamanaka, which was reminiscent of the old Ino-Shika-Cho trio of the previous generation. "But you're pretty good too-" A munch. "-nobody's ever made Shikamaru take that many moves to win."Another munch. "And you're getting better too."

"I wish we could get a C-rank already! These D-ranks are so boring!" Naruto whined.

"Maybe you'll get one today." Shikamaru replied after the two exchanged several moves.

One of the biggest downers about the D-ranks was that Naruto couldn't just leave a clone to take his place. Kakashi-sensei would easily see through him, and the missions were meant to improve teamwork. If he used clones, he would surely be scolded for dismissing the exercises as being unimportant. What's more, his clones would also disappear if Sakura hit him for saying something stupid.

And there was yet another problem. He couldn't help having a crush on Sakura, but he couldn't just be cool either. Show off to impress a girl, or stay true to the ninja way; a truly serious dilemma indeed.

_Stupid hormones. What a waste of brain power._

"That was the longest match yet." Shikamaru suddenly said, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts.

Huh? Then he realized he'd been checkmated. Again.

"Ah! Stupid hormones!" And the other two looked at him strangely.

* * *

_**Konoha, Hokage Office**_

"Let's see… your next mission is…to babysit-" The Third Hokage started.

"No, no, no and no! I'm tired of these missions! I want to go on a real mission, a mission that only a ninja can do!" Naruto exclaimed while Sasuke silently agreed. Kakashi beside them sighed, as if he expected this reaction.

"Naruto! Do I have to explain to you again how our mission system works?" Iruka cut in.

"No, I already know it. But I'm not a brat like back in the Academy anymore. We're ninja now, and we need to get real, live, experience. You can give C-rank missions to genin, right?"

Somewhat surprising the rest of the participants in the room, the Third responded, "Well, alright. If you want it so bad, I could give you one. Now meet your client. Tazuna-san, come in!"

"Hey, what's this? These brats don't look like much. Especially the short one with the stupid face."

Naruto wanted to yell at the man holding a sake bottle, but kept quiet, knowing that antagonizing the client could reduce his chances of receiving future C-rank missions.

"I assure you, Tazuna-san, my team is more than capable of the task. And just in case, I am a jounin, an elite ninja, so there's nothing to worry about." Kakashi defended.

"Well then, I'm the super bridge builder Tazuna, and I expect you to do a super job of guarding me until I get back and finish my bridge!"

"You got that right! With awesome ninja like us, you got nothing to worry about!" Naruto declared.

"Everyone, we'll be heading out of the village, so do some packing and meet up at the front gates in half an hour."

* * *

_**Konoha, Naruto's Apartment**_

Naruto was almost jumping up and down with excitement. It was the moment he'd been waiting for. For one thing, he'd finally be able to use his new skills in live combat. But more importantly, it was an opportunity to get out of the village. With this, it meant that he could test just how far his Shadow Clones could go from the original. Furthermore, he was already capable of allocating arbitrary amounts of chakra to new clones. And because when a clone dispelled, not only it updated the memories of all the other clones and the original, it also evenly redistributed its remaining chakra among all the clones and the original, it was possible to communicate and recharge clones in this manner. Of course, it would only really work if he had a small number of clones at any one time. If everything worked out, then Naruto would be able to take this opportunity to send a clone to explore the rest of the ninja world even while the original had to stay in Konoha.

Dispelling all current clones in Konoha at the moment, Naruto decided that he would find some sort of opportunity to send off a clone during the mission without alerting his teamates.

* * *

_**Konoha, Front Gates**_

"Let's go!"

"What are you so excited about?" questioned Sakura.

"It's my first time outside of the village!"

"Eh..am I really going to be safe with this brat?" Tazuna asked Kakashi.

"Hehe…well, I am a jounin like I said earlier. Don't worry," came the response.

"Hey, don't look down on me! I'm incredible! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to take the super elite ninja title Hokage some day!"

"Hokage's the #1 ninja in the village right? You think you can become it?"

"Shut up! I'm prepared to do anything to become Hokage! And once I do, you'll acknowledge me!"

"No I won't, even if you do."

"Why, you…!" Naruto tried to step towards Tazuna, before being pulled back by Kakashi.

"Tazuna-san, you come from the Land of Waves, right?" Sakura asked, trying to shift the topic as the group continued trekking.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Umm…Kakashi-sensei, do they have ninjas there too?"

"No, not in Wave. There are ninjas and hidden villages in most other countries though," the jounin explained.

It was then that Naruto noticed a suspicious puddle of water on the ground, even though it hadn't rained for days. His hand unconsciously went to his weapons pouch.

"The five strongest nations are called the five great ninja nations. Each of these nations has its own hidden village; the hidden Leaf being the village for the Land of Fire. The leaders of these villages are called Kages. For example, we have Hokage-sama. There are also the Mizukage, the Raikage, the Tsuchikage, and the Kazekage."

"So that means…Hokage-sama is one of the strongest ninjas in the world? Wow Hokage-sama is awesome!" Sakura said out loud. Meanwhile, Inner Sakura retorted, 'Really? That lame old geezer…?'

But just as he was preparing to alert Kakashi-sensei, he realized that an experienced jounin would not miss such a blatant clue. Then there must be a reason that Kakashi-sensei had yet to take action.

"However, on a C-rank mission like this one, we won't be seeing any foreign ninjas," Kakashi finished, ending his explanation.

Naruto realized then why Kakashi was waiting: if there were not to be any foreign ninjas, then those hiding in the puddle must be after Konoha ninja, or else Tazuna had lied in the mission details. Supposing that the ninja were after Konoha ninja, it may very well be a covert act of war, in which case the enemy ninja would be tight-tongued, if the enemy knew anything about war-making. It was thus necessary to verify their intentions by waiting to see how they act.

As the group walked past the puddle, a shape emerged and began to take form. The shape quickly solidified to become two ninjas wearing metallic masks and spiked gauntlets with a linked spiked chain attached.

Before a visible reaction was made, the two ninjas already flung their chain and wrapped around Kakashi-sensei.

"What-?"

As soon as the other three members of the group turned around, they witnessed Kakashi's body being ripped apart.

"One down," one of the ninjas declared.

Without any hesitation, the ninjas moved forward and surrounded Naruto. Just before they ripped Naruto to shreds, Sasuke quickly moved into action, throwing a well-aimed shuriken at the middle of the chain. He followed up with kunai that hit dead centre in the small hole of the shuriken, effectively binding the chain to a tree nearby. Continuing his assault, Sasuke jumped up and landed the gauntlets attached to the chain, and kicked both of the two enemy ninja in the face.

The two enemy ninjas unlinked the chain without missing a beat. One dashed back to attack Naruto again, while the other continued in the direction he was kicked in to attack Tazuna. Seeing this, Sakura moved in front of Tazuna in a battle-ready stance with a kunai.

_They're going after Tazuna!_

Having seen what he needed to know, Naruto finally made his move. He started to run forward towards the ninja approaching him.

"False Position Jutsu," Naruto said out loud with a big smirk on his face.

In the next moment, leaves sprung up from the ground in two whirlwinds, trademark of the Body Flicker, before the two enemy ninjas found themselves crashing into each other right where Naruto was just before. Naruto reappeared in front of Sakura, and being aware of the momentum carry of the Replacement Jutsu he just performed in his little combo, pretended to rush forward towards Tazuna. "Are you alright, Tazuna-san?"

At the same moment, Kakashi suddenly reappeared and defeated both enemy ninjas in less than a second as they were picking themselves up from the ground, before holding one of the two in under each arm and walking in Tazuna's direction.

"Good work, you three. And interesting technique there, Naruto," Kakashi complimented as he proceeded to tie up the two enemy ninja to the tree behind Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, I need to talk to you."

"What is it?"

"These look like Hidden Mist chuunins. We haven't heard that there are ninja after you. Our mission was simply to protect you from thieves and gangs," Kakashi elaborated while turning to look at Tazuna. "This was supposed to be simple protection until you completed the bridge. If it had been known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been set up as the more expensive B-rank. I'm sure you had lots of reasons, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission. We are now operating outside of our duties."

Sakura looked like she wanted to say something, but was cut off when Naruto spoke up, "Well we can't just stop here and quit halfway! We're continuing the mission!"

"Hmm…"

"You're right that this job is outside of your duties. There's a super dangerous man after my life," Tazuna suddenly admitted.

"Super dangerous man?" Naruto asked.

"You've probably at least heard of his name before. Gatou, the wealthy shipping magnate."

"Gatou from the Gatou Company? He's said to be one of the world's few extremely rich people," a surprised Kakashi said.

"Yes, he's a very nasty man that hires ninjas and gang members to take over businesses and countries, dealing in drugs and other illegal items. About a year ago, he set his sights on Wave country. He quickly took control of the shipping industry through money and violence. He now has a monopoly, and the only thing he has to fear is the bridge I'm going to build."

"I see…Since you're building the bridge, you're in the way," Sakura realized.

"So…those ninjas were hired by Gatou?" Sasuke asked.

"Why did you hide this from us?" Kakashi asked.

"Wave country is super poor. Even the Feudal Lord is poor. We didn't have money for the B-rank. Well… if you quit the mission now, I will definitely be killed. But! Don't worry about it! If I die, my cute 10 year old grandson will just cry for a few days. Oh yeah, and my daughter will live a sad life hating Leaf ninjas forever. But it won't be your fault. Not at all!"

Team Seven sweat-dropped.

"…I guess we have no choice then. We will protect you at least until you get back to your country."

* * *

"Hey, Naruto, how did you do that genjutsu back there?" A curious Sakura asked.

Kakashi chuckled inwardly upon hearing Sakura call Naruto's maneuver a genjutsu, but didn't bother to correct her.

"Er…eh..hehe…" Naruto pretended to splutter while scratching the back of his head and grinning.

"I thought you just froze up, dead-last," Sasuke commented.

"Wha-you bastard! Who asked you anyway!"

"Hn."

"And as for how I did it, I'll tell you if you go on a date with me when we get back, Sakura-chan!"

"What? No way! If you don't want to tell me, you could've just said so!"

* * *

_**Land of Waves**_

After travelling by boat across the water separating the two countries, the group finally made it to Wave country.

Suddenly Kakashi and Naruto noticed something amiss. Naruto threw a kunai into the forest area to his left.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked, before a white snow rabbit ran out from the direction of the kunai that Naruto threw. "It's just a rabbit, Naruto!"

"Everybody down!" Kakashi suddenly shouted.

Not a second later, a giant sword spun through the air from behind and cut deeply into a tree in front the four ducked travelers. A man with a Mist headband stood on the flat of the blade.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Mist missing-nin Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi drawled.

[**Scene Skip**]

* * *

"Ninja Technique: Hidden Mist Jutsu."

The air became thick with mist and visibility plummeted while Zabuza disappeared. The fighting shortly ensued.

[**Scene Skip**]

* * *

"Water Prison Jutsu."

And Kakashi was trapped after just several minutes of fighting, realizing that he had made a mistake and that he had underestimated his opponent.

While making a Water Clone, Zabuza started to speak, "Wearing forehead protectors and pretending to be ninja…But you know what? A real ninja is one who has survived numerous encounters with death. You're not real ninjas until you get marked down in my handbook and shouldn't be referred to as such."

Then the clone disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto. Naruto was kicked in the face and his Leaf headband fell off.

"Just brats…"

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted out.

As Naruto slowly got up, he berated himself for not being more prepared. The intensity of the battle had gotten to him, and he had been without a plan. Then he noticed that his forehead protector was missing, and that Zabuza was stepping on it.

He glared at Zabuza. He was angered that the man would dare to abuse the symbol of his hard work, angered that the man would mock him being a ninja, and above all, angered at his own failure to react.

"Auahh!" Naruto yelled as he charged forward towards Zabuza.

"What are you doing? We genin don't stand a chance!" Sakura shouted.

Just as he was kicked again, Naruto swiped his headband off the ground.

Getting back up, "…Mark this down in your handbook, you eyebrowless freak! The man who will one day become Hokage…! Naruto Uzumaki! And I never go back on my word! That's my ninja way!" Naruto declared as he tied his Leaf headband around his forehead again.

"Naruto…" Sakura's voice trailed off as she realized the goal behind his charge.

"Sasuke, I have a plan."

"Pft, teamwork from you?" Nonetheless, he decided to listen to Naruto.

"What are you doing? Run away! This fight was over the moment I was caught! Our duty is to protect Tazuna-san, or have you forgotten that already!" Kakashi shouted to his genin from his prison.

The genin looked towards Tazuna, who then said, "Well, I'm not going to say that I want to live so much that I'd stop you. Fight as much as you want."

"Still pretending to be ninja? When I was your age, these hands of mine were already stained red with blood."

"Demon of the Mist, Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi added.

[**Scene Skip**]

* * *

"Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!" Sasuke shouted.

"Something of that level won't work on me…" Zabuza said before catching the shuriken with his spare hand. Then he noticed the second shuriken coming at him. "Heh…this won't work either!" And he jumped up to avoid the shuriken.

Behind him, the flying shuriken suddenly poofed to reveal another Naruto. "Then try this on for size!" That Naruto then threw a kunai at Zabuza, before looking at Kakashi expectantly as he continued to soar backwards above the water. Of course, Kakashi—who still had his Sharingan eye open and who could see that the shuriken Zabuza held in his hand was not a shuriken either, but rather a Shadow Clone with an abnormally large amount of chakra—caught on to Naruto's plan immediately, a sign that his genius had not lessened any from his days of being praised as a prodigy.

Then just as Zabuza was forced to let go of the water prison to avoid the kunai coming behind him, Kakashi quickly performed the seals for the Replacement Jutsu. In the next moment, the shuriken that Zabuza was holding on to also poofed to reveal another Naruto, who then grabbed onto Zabuza. As Zabuza tried to shake off the clone, Kakashi had already switched places with the Naruto that was still flying off in the distance. Then the second clone latched on to Zabuza as well.

"You-" Zabuza started, but before he could say anything further, the body of the first clone was suddenly covered in a large seal. Zabuza's eyes widened as he saw the seals and realized what was happening. Then the clone yelled, "Detonate!"

And it exploded, generating ripples in the water, and flinging Zabuza's body back to the ground from the water.

Hidden in the trees, a masked figure dressed in Hunter-nin gear whispered, "Zabuza-sama…," before disappearing and reappearing next to Zabuza's body.

"I have been looking for this one for a long time. Thank you for defeating him. I must dispose of the body now."

_A hunter-nin?_

Then the figure Body Flickered out of sight along with Zabuza.

_What the-? Shouldn't he have disposed of the body right there?_

In the forest, another figure watched all of the events that happened and chased after the hunter-nin and Zabuza.

* * *

_**Zabuza's hideout in Wave**_

Zabuza's body at the moment was covered in burn marks from the explosion, while the hunter-nin was tending to him with various herbs.

Coughing, Zabuza started to speak, "Ah-Why the hell am I still alive?"

"Zabuza-sama, it seems that the explosion was rather weak."

"Damn, that kid was good. What did he say his name was? Naruto Uzumaki? I can't believe it."

"Zabuza-sama, please try not to speak," the hunter-nin urged.

"I'm fine, Haku," he brushed Haku off, "More importantly, that kid, he's an Uzumaki. I didn't realize it at first because he didn't have the red hair the Uzumaki clan was known for. Their sealing techniques would be immensely valuable to us, if only we could get him to help us-" Zabuza murmured, before he was cut off by the one known as Haku throwing senbon needles into some bushes.

"Come out!" Haku called out.

The bushes ruffled. And what came out was…

Naruto.

"You come to finish the fight, brat?" Zabuza asked, trying to get up.

"Forgive me, Zabuza-sama, I was distraught when making our escape, and I overlooked possible pursuers," Haku apologized while drawing out more senbon needles.

"Maybe, maybe not. I want to hear what you were saying just now," Naruto responded to Zabuza, and ignoring Haku's statement.

"…You mean to say you want to help us? Do you even know what it is that we want?" Zabuza questioned in an amused voice.

"No, I meant what you said about the Uzumaki clan."

"The Uzumaki clan?"

"I…I don't know anything about my clan name. I always thought I was a no-name orphan in my village."

"…hm…that explains it."

"What?"

"The Uzumaki are supposed to be extinct."

Hearing this, Naruto felt saddened. He, who had never known a family before, longed to receive the same love that he often saw other kids his age receive from their fathers, mothers, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. "Why do you know all this anyway?"

"…Fine, since you defeated me, I'll tell you. I'm a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist-"

"Yeah, I already knew that. That's why I didn't risk making my explosion strong enough to destroy your face beyond recognition; I wanted your bounty."

"-Do you want to know or not?" Zabuza demanded in an annoyed tone.

"Er, sorry. Please continue."

"As I was saying, the Seven Swordsmen were close to the Mizukage. The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, told us about the evil Konoha ninja who were allied with the Uzumaki and the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because he's the jinchuuriki for the Three-Tails. You know what that means, right?"

"H-he was?"

"Apparently, according to him, when the Hidden Mist obtained the Three-Tails, we had no sealing techniques capable of sealing it. We asked for help from the Uzumaki clan of the Whirling Tides, because they were very close to us, and because they were well known for their sealing expertise. To this day, the Hidden Mist continues to use the first seals that we were given," Zabuza explained, "The man was paranoid, probably insane. Even though he told us the Uzumaki were extinct, he told us to watch for their red hair and red spiral, in case one of them decided to attack us. Although, maybe he wasn't as insane as I thought, considering that you're alive."

"So...you want my help to defeat the Mizukage?" Naruto realized.

"Hehe…that's right. But it doesn't matter anyway, because you won't be able to come with me, not if you want to become Hokage as you say."

"Actually, my team doesn't know about this meeting. And I'm a special kind of clone that can use Jutsu, communicate with my original, and go as far from my original as I want. So it's not that impossible. I wouldn't have to become missing-nin or anything like that, because my village doesn't need to know about this at all."

"Your team doesn't know about you following us?"

"Well, it's like this…"

* * *

**Flashback**

_The kunai hit the tree, missing its target. The scared snow rabbit that was used for a Replacement Jutsu ran off to the direction of the path._

_When the fighting began, the kunai suddenly transformed to reveal a clone of Naruto. He quickly hid himself and began to carefully observe the battle in order to provide the original with information on the battle that the original's point of view would not be able to see. _

_When the battle was over, he chased after the suspicious hunter-nin.

* * *

_

"So you see, I'm not your average elemental clone. For most intents and purposes, I'm a complete copy of the original that can go anywhere I want, with a mind of my own too," Naruto finished.

"…Does that mean you're willing to help us?"

"…Why do you want to defeat him, the Fourth Mizukage?"

"…"

Silence. It seemed Zabuza was not ready to disclose that information. But then he started speaking again.

"He is being controlled."

"C-controlled? Somebody that powerful is being controlled?"

"Yes. By whom, I don't know. Kisame Hoshigaki, another former member of the Seven, probably knows. He would've been the best weapon against Yagura, but he never helped us. He's definitely on their side."

"Are you sure about all this?"

"There's no doubt about it. That's why I staged a coup d'etat. But I couldn't defeat him, not with his Tailed-Beast chakra helping him."

Haku, who had been following the conversation silently until now, pondered over the new information that his master revealed. While he knew of Zabuza's ambitions, he had not known about the Uzumaki clan.

"What I told you just now, about how Yagura told us about the Uzumaki clan and the evil Leaf ninja, that was probably whoever's controlling him's doing. Whoever they are, they seem to hate the Hidden Leaf," Zabuza continued.

"…How would my help benefit you? I do not know any Uzumaki sealing techniques."

"What about that seal you had on that exploding clone?"

"I made that technique myself. Besides, like I told you, I didn't know anything about my clan before now, much less their techniques."

"…I have been to the ruins of the Hidden Whirling Tides. There is a place blocked off by blood seals. If you are an Uzumaki, you should be able to open it. There may be information on your clan techniques there. If you can already create your own seal techniques, then you should be able to learn the techniques of your clan."

_A place blocked off by blood seals? I wonder if I'll really be able to learn any sealing techniques, if my clan left any behind…Even though I "created" that exploding clone technique, it's only a Shadow Clone with an explosive seal covering its body._

When creating his explosive clones, Naruto had merely taken advantage of the fact that the Shadow Clone technique could replicate anything that the user knew in complete detail. He hadn't actually created any new sealing techniques, but merely memorized the basic explosive seal and constructed it as part of his Shadow Clone. But Zabuza didn't need to know that.

_This sounds enticing…but a little suspicious._

"Why haven't you hired some other seal master to help you?"

"Heh, are you kidding? How many seal masters are there in the world? How many of them would be willing to fight against the Mizukage, and possibly most of the Hidden Mist, just for a bit of money?"

"If that's so, then why would I help you?"

"Because I'm not offering you money. If your village won't tell you about your clan, even though they were allied with them, then you won't get information out of them. But I can take you to the ruins of the Whirling Tides. Don't you want to discover more about your lost clan?"

"Why should either of us trust each other?" Naruto questioned, but on the inside, he was intrigued. He definitely did not want to pass up this chance.

"As long as you help me defeat the Mizukage, you are my ally. As for why I would trust you, well right now, my handbook says that you are the man who will become Hokage, and who will never go back on your word? That's your ninja way, isn't it?"

Naruto smirked. He thought of all the benefits of this arrangement, and all the possible risks. It was an easy decision. But…maybe he could get something more.

"Hmmm…I'll help you, on one condition."

"And what's that?"

"Teach me. I'm still a genin after all."

"…Fine."

"Great! You got a deal. I'll arrange for my real self to send me some blood for when we get to the Hidden Whirling Tides. When it comes time to fight the Mizukage, I'll find a way for my real self to come. But until then, I'll be the one travelling with you. Just so you know though, even though I can do anything the original can, I'll be dispelled with a good punch. So you'll have to teach me some defensive Jutsus first, if you don't want me to get dispelled early by accident or in a fight. No big deal."

"You little…!" Zabuza glared at the blond Uzumaki before him. "…Fine."

"Well then, what're you going to do about Gatou? Don't you still have a job? I can't work with you if you're going to attack my team again."

"Don't worry brat. I already know that bastard wants to kill me and take back his money. He'll be sending a group of mercenaries to kill all of us and the bridge-builder when we get weakened in our next fight. We'll come after your team again in about a week, and stall until Gatou shows up. Then I'll kill Gatou and leave your team alone."

"…I hope your plan works."

"What's the worst that could happen? It will be fun fighting you again, the real you."

"Aren't you afraid you might die?"

"Don't get cocky, brat. I can hold my own against the Fourth Mizukage. You only won that fight because I underestimated you. Next time, there'll be no holding back."

"As long as nobody dies."

"Heh…you got nothing to worry about."

"Alright then. Hold up while I send this information to my real self." Clone Naruto then held his hands up in the cross seal and created/dispelled instantly another Shadow Clone with minimal chakra. A slight breeze was the only indicator that a Jutsu was just performed.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry everyone, I made a mistake when I told you that Naruto would have an opportunity to create a clone to explore the world in this chapter. I forgot that I planned to send his first clone to Zabuza, so he'll get his chance to explore the world with another clone in the chapter following this.

To otaku-kage: I read your suggestion. The reason I said excluding Whirlpool country was because of what happened in this chapter. So don't worry, he will indeed visit Uzushiogakure, just not on his own.


	7. Shut up!

_**Land of Waves, Tazuna's House**_

Team Seven and Tazuna's family sat around the dinner table. They were enjoying the food after a long journey, and a near-disastrous battle.

When the hunter-nin had disappeared with Zabuza, Kakashi had realized that the hunter-nin was a fake. He couldn't very well pursue them however, because he himself was low on chakra after using the Sharingan so extensively. He was quite grateful that Naruto had managed to defeat Zabuza with his trick. He could have probably only used one or two more major Jutsu, had the fight continued. Even if he won the fight then, he would've suffered from chakra exhaustion. It had been years since he'd been in ANBU, the Leaf's elite ninja organization, and he was a bit out of practice.

Kakashi was intrigued by the blond genin's skill. Even in the bell test he had administered, he was surprised at how well Naruto performed despite his poor Academy record. He had originally seen his old team in Team Seven—and still did—but it seemed that unlike Obito, Naruto was only faking his idiocy. He supposed that he should count himself lucky that his team at least worked together well.

However, the team dynamic was already changing. The atmosphere was also a little tense. Naruto hadn't told Sasuke about his planned explosion when he told Sasuke the plan. Sasuke was miffed that Naruto, the dead-last of the Academy, had been able to come up with a plan in that situation and even defeated a powerful jounin level ninja who had been able to subdue Kakashi. Sakura, on the other hand, felt useless seeing her teammates fight while she hadn't done anything.

"You three have all come a long way. Naruto especially. All of you showed good teamwork and the proper mindset for ninjas," said Kakashi to his students.

There was no response.

"Unfortunately, Zabuza is probably still alive and will come back to attack us."

"Huh? What do you mean, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"When I explained earlier that the ninja who took away Zabuza was a hunter-nin, I was wrong. He was probably an accomplice of Zabuza, since hunter-nin are supposed to dispose of the body on the spot."

"…So we'll fight them again?" This time it was Sasuke who asked.

"Yes, and we'll have to prepare. We will start training tomorrow morning."

"Why do you even bother? Gatou can't be defeated. You'll all just die!" Inari, the grandson of Tazuna, exclaimed.

"Because we're ninja of the Leaf! There's no way we'll lose," Naruto responded.

"Hmpf!" And with that, Inari left the table to go to his own room, being finished with his food.

"What's his problem?" Naruto asked.

Sighing, Tazuna began the story of the Hero of Wave, Kaiza, who was also Inari's surrogate father. Everyone listened intently, and was shocked to hear how Kaiza was executed publicly.

* * *

"Ok, we will now start the training," said Kakashi.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto yelled.

"Ok…but before that…I wanted to talk to you about the ninja ability, Chakra."

"What about?" Naruto asked.

"You guys are not using chakra properly."

"What do you mean? We can already use Jutsu," Sasuke added.

"Listen…even if you are able to release a high amount of chakra, unless you control it properly, the Jutsu will be weakened or not work at all."

Naruto began to see where Kakashi was headed with this. It was the problem that he had struggled with for years when attempting to do the basic Clone Jutsu. Only a week ago did he finally perfect it, after using Shadow Clones to train his chakra control with the Leaf Concentration exercise from the Academy, and his own Tree Walking exercise.

"And by wasting energy, you won't be able to fight for long. And that's a weakness."

"What are we going to do?" asked Sakura.

"We're going to learn how to control it. Through very tough training," Kakashi responded.

The three genin waited expectantly for their sensei to tell them just what they were going to do.

"Tree climbing."

Sasuke and Sakura sweat-dropped while Naruto's eyes widened.

"Tree Climbing? What kind of training is that?" asked a doubtful Sakura.

"Well, listen until the end. This isn't normal tree climbing. You're going to climb without using your hands."

Now Sasuke was listening closely, while Sakura was a little confused. Naruto's eyes were even more open than before.

"…? How?" asked Sakura.

"Well…watch," said Kakashi before applying chakra to his feet and proceeding to walk up a nearby tree. "Gather chakra at the bottom of your feet and climb up. This is something you can do once you can use chakra well."

"Wait a minute! How is learning how to climb a tree going to make us stronger?" demanded Sakura.

"The purpose of this, is for you to learn to control chakra. The amount of chakra needed to climb a tree is small, but it must be exact. This can be difficult even for a skilled ninja. So…if you learn to do this, you should be able to master any Jutsu…theoretically. You will also develop the stamina needed to maintain chakra control." Then Kakashi took out three kunai and threw them to the ground where his students were. "Use those kunai to mark your progress. Then try to surpass it. Try to get some momentum by running at first."

As per his instructions, the three genin each picked up a kunai and started to gather chakra to their feet. They then ran towards a separate tree and started climbing. A moment later, Sasuke had used too much chakra, pressing into the tree, and fell down as a result. Sakura easily climbed to a branch near the middle of her tree. Naruto climbed a section higher and then suddenly turned and jumped to the tree that Kakashi was still standing on.

"Wow, this is pretty easy!" Sakura said loudly.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Umm…sensei. I already did this exercise before," came the response.

"Oh? You did? Who taught it to you?" Kakashi inquired.

"I just found out about it myself actually. When I did the Leaf Concentration exercise that we were taught in the Academy, I figured I might try to stick something else, rather than get a leaf to stick to me. Then I thought of climbing a tree. I've been practicing it for awhile now."

"Hmm…" Kakashi then jumped down from the tree, and Naruto followed him right after.

"Well, it looks like Naruto and Sakura already have the hang of this."

Sasuke glared at Naruto before continuing with the exercise, this time climbing higher than before.

"Sakura, you keep training to help your stamina. Sasuke, keep at it until you can do it easily. Naruto, well…if you already mastered this, then you might be ready for a more advanced version of this," Kakashi said, inside thinking that the blond was full of surprises these days. "Sakura, Sasuke, we will be at the bridge if you need me. Come on, Naruto."

Naruto nodded before following after Kakashi. Behind them, Sakura was delighted that she would be alone with Sasuke for the next little while. Sasuke continued his training fervently.

* * *

By the time Naruto and Kakashi got to the bridge, Tazuna and his workers had already arrived and were working on building the bridge.

"Alright Naruto, you see the water down there?" Kakashi pointed to the water below the bridge. "You're going to use your chakra to keep yourself standing on it. Let me show you." He proceeded to jump down to the water and applied chakra to his feet. "Now, you give it a try," he called.

Naruto remembered seeing both Kakashi and Zabuza being able to stand and fight on the water during the earlier battle. He could see how useful this would be. "OK!" Then he jumped down and applied some chakra to his feet. Unfortunately, he hadn't applied the right amount, thus falling into the cold water. A muffled cry could be heard above the water, before Naruto resurfaced and started treading the water.

Kakashi chuckled at the display before saying, "Use chakra on your hands to climb up and try again. If you can't get it, then swim over to the shore and start with one foot." He then started walking towards the shore. Naruto swam after him, not wanting to stay in the cold water any longer.

When they reached the shore, Naruto said to Kakashi, "Alright, I'll have this down in no time, just watch!"

Putting his hands together in the cross seal, Naruto then said out loud, "Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Approximately thirty Shadow Clones appeared and they all started to attempt the exercise.

"You're using Shadow Clones?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah! I learn everything they learn, so it's a great way to speed up my training. This shouldn't take me longer than ten minutes. I should already have great chakra control, considering that I've been doing the other two chakra control exercises with Shadow Clones for the month now," Naruto explained.

"Hmm…I suppose it should be okay, considering your chakra reserves." Inside, he was again surprised that Naruto had already started to take advantage of this trait of Shadow Clones. He was also a little impressed by the number of clones that Naruto could make without breaking a sweat, since he had never seen Naruto use the Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu before. It seemed more and more that Naruto was a hidden genius in the ninja arts.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, since I'm going to have this mastered soon, can you teach me something else?" Naruto asked.

"Well…you sound like you have something in mind. What would you like me to teach you? Maybe if it isn't too dangerous or high level…"

"Heh! It's just like you to see through me sensei! Well, see, you know that Shadow Clone is my favorite Jutsu, right?" Naruto started, "The thing is, they get dispelled too easily by a punch or two. I was thinking, do you know of any armor-type Jutsu that I could learn? To make my clones be more helpful in Taijutsu."

"Armor-type jutsu huh? Well…why not just train taijutsu?"

"Because they'll still be dispelled if they block a strike that's strong enough!"

"Ok...what about Earth Clones then?"

"Well that wouldn't do! The elemental clones don't have a mind of their own, and they're just generally less versatile than the Shadow Clone. Come on, you fought in the Third Ninja World War, didn't you, sensei? You must have copied some Earth Release armor Jutsus from the Stone ninja!"

"…You sure know a lot, don't you, Naruto? Well, you're right, I do know of a Jutsu that should be what you're looking for."

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed. Or was it a clone that exclaimed? At any rate, a clone dispelled and the rest of his clones seemed to have a much better time staying up on the water now.

"Ok, this one is called the Stone Armor Jutsu*(1),"Kakashi started. He then went through the hand seals and initiated the technique. There was no visible indication that he had any sort of armor on, except for some reflections of light. "This is a skin-deep and transparent armor that increases both your physical defense but also increases the strength of your physical strike. It does not have any effect on your speed, and you will not need any extra chakra to sustain it after you first initiate it," Kakashi continued.

Then he released the technique.

"It's a chakra-flow based technique that uses earth-type chakra. But you will probably have some trouble learning it, because it is a chakra-flow type. In fact, unless you have the earth affinity, it will probably be very difficult. Though with your Shadow Clones, you might be able to learn it faster. But even with fifty Shadow Clones, you will probably not be able to learn this technique before Zabuza attacks us again. Are you sure you want to learn this?"

"…affinity?"

"Oh…I guess I'll have to explain it to you then. There are five types of chakra affinities, one for each element. Usually each ninja starts out with one chakra affinity, and they will find techniques of that element easier to learn. Jounin will usually have two chakra affinities. You can develop an affinity with certain exercises. Genin don't usually start this kind of training until they become chuunin. I don't have any chakra paper with me, so I can't test for your chakra affinity. But even if you don't have earth as your primary affinity, you can still develop the affinity. Most ninja will specialize in only one or two elements for combat."

"How many affinities do you have Kakashi-sensei?"

"Actually, my Sharingan allows me to use copy most techniques, so even if I don't have the affinity for a specific technique, I can still perform it."

"…How can I get started with training my earth affinity for this technique?"

"For you to learn this technique, you don't have to master the earth nature. If you do, the technique will become far stronger. Most techniques are like that. The more you use it, the stronger the element's affinity becomes—even without affinity training—albeit at a very slow rate. You really shouldn't try to master a second element before mastering your first, so unless you find that Earth is your primary affinity, then you should just stick with training the technique, rather than the affinity."

"This technique sounds awesome! I'll definitely learn it! So, what do I do?"

"To begin…try to think of making your chakra harder, more solid. Imagine the strength of the ground flowing into you, and forming a kind of unbreakable stone armor on your skin."

Hearing that, Naruto closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

"It won't come naturally to you unless you are an Earth type, so don't worry if you don't get it at first. You could start by forming the armor on your palm, which is usually an easier place to mold chakra. Once you get the hang of it, test it and see how strong the armor is so you know what it will withstand."

Going through the hand seals Kakashi showed earlier, Naruto tried to gather his chakra and visualize the hardening of it. He held out his palm and concentrated on creating the armor there. Unfortunately, his palm did not feel any different from usual, except for the warmth of the chakra there.

"Argh! I don't feel anything at all!" Naruto complained.

"I didn't expect you to… I'd be surprised if you can perform the technique at all in a week. This is, after all, a chakra-flow type, which means it's more dependent on creating Earth chakra than usual. On the upside, if you do manage…then when you try to develop your Earth affinity later, you'll find it much easier."

"Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. And with that, he made about seventy more Shadow Clones. "Alright! Get to work everyone!" Following the order, all the clones began to attempt the technique.

Kakashi was surprised at the number of clones Naruto had made. He hadn't expected Naruto to be able to make much more after the initial thirty. 'Is this the work of the Nine-Tails?' he questioned within his own mind. He understood at once the implications of training in this manner. The boy's potential was vast, but…

"Hey, Naruto… Normally, I would say 'Go knock yourself out!' , but in this case…try not to knock yourself out…it could be dangerous…"

"Oh! Don't worry sensei! I've been training this way for a whole month now! At first, I fainted when I dispelled fifty clones, but then I started dispelling in smaller groups, and I got used to it! If I dispel fifty all at once now, I'll just get a headache, but it'll go away in a few hours."

"Hm…well then…I'll leave you to it. I'll be helping to train your teammates until they catch up at least, so if anything happens, you know where to find me." Then the jounin-sensei turned around and took a few steps, before turning back again. "Oh and by the way, since you're so ahead of the others, you'll be on bridge watching duty from now on. Bye!" And with a wave of the hand to signal his departure, the jounin poofed into smoke and was gone.

When Naruto was certain that the jounin had left the area, he took out a small vial before biting his thumb to draw some blood. He let the blood drop into the vial, and then popped a soldier pill into his mouth. As his body was stimulated by the pill, he regained his lost chakra. Then he created a new Shadow Clone with over half of his chakra, which was enough to last for a week if it didn't use any chakra on its own. The Shadow Clone took the vial of blood and nodded to Naruto before dashing off.

_Kakashi-sensei was right about chakra control being important. I can do so much more with my chakra now compared to back when I was an Academy student.

* * *

_

Sasuke was fuming. First the dead-last had managed to come up with a plan to defeat a high level missing-nin when he could not, then it turns out that the same dead-last had discovered and mastered a training exercise on his own. This was completely unacceptable. 'What have I been doing these years?' was his thought as he repeatedly dashed up and fell down the tree that was down filled with foot imprints and kunai slashes. 'Training, training, and more training, yet…!'

The urgency of his need to grow stronger had always been apparent to him. It was why he focused on bettering himself every day. It was why he practiced his Grand Fireball Jutsu for many long hours to get it to be as big as he saw his big brother make before. It was why he ignored everything else that the other kids thought important, and instead completely devoted himself to his ultimate goal. 'So why? Why is he better than me?'

Sasuke's big brother had always been like an ideal, an insurmountable barrier. He had dreamed of surpassing his brother and gaining acknowledgement from his father, yet he knew deep down that the task was nigh impossible. At thirteen years of age, his brother Itachi Uchiha had already become an ANBU captain. This year, Sasuke would turn thirteen, and he was but a genin, whereas Itachi had to have grown even stronger than before. Was the gap between their powers closing, or widening? He didn't know. But he did know that if he wanted to match his brother, then he'd at least need the Sharingan. And unfortunately, he hadn't activated the Uchiha's prized bloodline trait yet, even though Itachi had _mastered_ it at eight years of age.

Still, Sasuke could not be deterred. His relentless and increasingly ferocious efforts to master the Tree Walking exercise could be seen as proof of that. Though he was unsure of many things, one thing was clear. 'I won't lose to that idiot!'

Meanwhile, Sakura had already run out of energy. She never had a lot of chakra to begin with, and even though she seemed to have great chakra control, she simply couldn't last for long. She was sitting with her back against the base of a tree and watching Sasuke quietly. Earlier, she had tried to offer help, but was rejected by her cold teammate. She had been surprised that Naruto already knew the exercise, but was glad that she could have some private time with Sasuke. But as always, Sasuke had no intentions of even talking with her. She sighed.

"Boys…why do they have to be so stubborn?" She whispered to herself. Inner Sakura responded, 'Cha! It's his loss! I bet Naruto would be happy to accept our help!'

"Giving up already, Sakura?" A voice said from beside her.

"Eh-se-sensei? I…ran out of energy," she replied meekly.

"Oh…well…I guess it can't be helped. Girls do normally have less chakra than boys," Kakashi commented.

"Huh? Is that why Sasuke-kun can keep going for so long?" she asked.

"Hm? That's a part of it…but those two are… special. Sasuke has an extraordinary amount of chakra for a genin. And Naruto…" Kakashi trailed off.

"What about Naruto?"

"Well…he's probably got a lot more chakra than me, even, maybe four times as much," Kakashi admitted.

"What? No way! How can that be?" exclaimed a surprised Sakura. And Inner Sakura exclaimed, 'Cha! So Kaka-sensei is weak after all!'

"Ah…you just doubted my ability just now, didn't you?" Kakashi accused.

Sakura sweat-dropped. Meanwhile, Kakashi was thinking, 'She thinks she has very little chakra, but I hadn't even expected her to be at a decent level. And the other two…this will be interesting.'

* * *

"Hey kid, where're your teammates?" Tazuna asked a concentrated Naruto.

"They're training with Kakashi-sensei," Naruto responded.

"Why aren't you with them?"

"Since I'm so superior, Kakashi-sensei asked me to guard you. I can also train and guard at the same time, as you can see."

"Hm…I guess you weren't super weak in that fight," Tazuna admitted.

"Heh! So you're finally beginning to see how awesome I am!" Naruto remarked.

Just then another man came by.

"Hey Tazuna… I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, and…can I stop working on the bridge?"

"Why, Giichi? This is so sudden! Not you too!"

"Tazuna, we've been close for a long time now. I want to help you, but if we continue this Gatou will notice. And if you get killed, what's the point then? Why don't we quit now…"

"I can't do that. This bridge is our bridge," Tazuna declared. "This is the bridge we started building together believing that it would bring resources into our super poor country."

"-But if we all lose our lives!"

"It's already noon. Let's stop for today," Tazuna announced. "Giichi, you don't have to come tomorrow."

* * *

_**Land of Waves, Tazuna's House**_

Naruto and Sasuke were wolfing down their meals, trying to eat as much as possible. Then both of them gagged and nearly threw up.

"If you're going to throw up, then stop eating!" Sakura yelled at both of them.

"We have to eat! Because we have to become stronger!" Naruto answered.

"Well…that's true, but you don't have to throw up…" Kakashi advised.

"Why are you still trying? It's all useless anyway! You'll never be strong enough to defeat Gatou!" Inari vented angrily.

"Shut up! Just because you're too sad and pathetic to do anything doesn't mean we're like you!" Naruto responded hotly.

"Wha-? You always act so happy all the time! You'll never understand!" Inari responded in turn, with just as much vigor.

Naruto put his hands on the table and abruptly stood up. His face was in a scowl. "You-You don't know anything about me, so shut up! What your dad said was right! If you have something precious to you, then you need to protect it with your own two arms!" Naruto, who had so few people that could be considered precious to him, had felt a certain _resonance_ with the words of Kaiza. Then he turned around while Inari, with tears forming in his eyes, also decided to leave the table and ran upstairs.

"Huh?" Sakura was confused at seeing how Naruto reacted. She never thought that he'd be capable of such anger. Then again, she remembered the fight with Zabuza and realized that she had seen very different aspects of Naruto since Team Seven was formed.

Sasuke watched the proceedings silently. He knew that Naruto was an orphan who had lived alone all his life…and he knew personally the pain of being alone…though he also knew the pain of losing loved ones.

Kakashi, being a jounin—and having knowledge of Naruto's burden—understood perfectly the reasons for the outburst that seemingly revealed a glimpse of the person behind the constantly cheerful mask.

"Hey, where are you going, Naruto?" Sakura called out as Naruto began to walk towards the door.

"If you're thinking of training…take a break. You've already used a lot of chakra today, if you use any more…" Kakashi added.

"I'm going to prove it…" Naruto started, before pausing. "…I'm going to prove that in this world, heroes _do_ exist!"

Then he promptly walked out.

Shortly after, Sasuke stood up too.

"Sasuke-kun?"

He walked to the door before answering, "I'm going too."

Then he too, walked out.

Sakura looked a little nervous as she fidgeted about, unsure if she should be resting while both her teammates had gone out to train.

"Umm…sensei?"

"Hm? You want to go too?"

"Uh…yeah…" She looked away.

"Well…I won't stop you," the jounin-sensei replied.

"Thanks, sensei." Then Sakura followed after the two before her.

* * *

_That stupid kid! Damn! Screw Zabuza, I'm going to kill Gatou myself!_

Holding his hands in the cross seal, Naruto created three Shadow Clones. Two of the clones leapt aside to watch, while the last ran through some hand seals before beginning a basic taijutsu stance. Mimicking the clone, Naruto got into his taijutsu stance too.

Both Naruto and the clone rushed towards each other. Naruto was the first to throw a right hook, which was promptly blocked by the clone using a flourish of the left arm. As the clone drew in his right leg for a kick, Naruto decided to do the same thing. Both feet impacted, but the clone dispersed.

_Damn! I still can't feel any earth chakra, let alone the armor._

He then noticed Sasuke watching him from behind.

"…What is it?" Naruto asked while turning around.

"…" Sasuke was looking away when he asked, "What…what did sensei teach you?"

Naruto simply looked at Sasuke for a moment, before responding, "Heh, you want me to show you?"

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura came running, then stopped to catch her breath.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! You came to train too? Let's go to the bridge then, and I'll show you what Kakashi-sensei taught me today," Naruto said with a grin, before turning to the direction of the bridge.

"Uh-Ok!" said Sakura as she followed after Naruto. Sasuke followed silently.

* * *

_Oh mighty and majestic stone, please show me your ways…_

This was the thought of Naruto as he lay face down with his arms and legs spread out over a rather large piece of flat rock. He was trying to become closer to the stone, to understand it, and to make his chakra more stone-like. So far, he wasn't sure if it was working. He hadn't felt any kind of response from the stone. It was probably pointless, but everything else he had tried had failed too, so he hadn't any better ideas. Kakashi-sensei was right: he had a lot of trouble even feeling any earth chakra, let alone making his technique work. It was obvious that he was no earth-nature by this point.

Then suddenly, there was a tiny, minuscule, vibration in the stone that could not possibly be felt had he not been concentrating with all his might. Did his call actually work? Was it possible that this inanimate object could respond to him?

_Oh great stone, I—_

"Hey…Naruto?" came a soft voice from above him.

"Huh?" Naruto managed to get out while turning on his back and sitting upright.

_Oh, darn. It was just Sakura-chan sitting down…huh, Sakura-chan's sitting down beside me?_

"Can I ask you something?" Sakura continued.

"Oh, uh, sure."

"What's it like?" Sakura asked. Seeing the confused look on Naruto's face, she elaborated with a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks, "Um…I mean…being an orphan and all?"

"Oh…" Naruto tried to think of an answer. "It's…lonely, I guess. But I can't really make any comparisons since I've never had a family before." He responded softly. He wondered what had caused the sudden interest. Was it his little outburst at the dinner table? He probably shouldn't have let his emotions get the better of him. "But it's ok! You don't have to worry about me Sakura-chan! I've always gotten by no matter what!" He continued cheerfully. He received a small smile in return before Sakura averted her gaze.

In the awkward silence that ensued, Naruto went back to trying to become closer to the stone. A splash could be heard as Sasuke fell into the water again.

* * *

Kakashi stood outside Inari's room, listening to the sounds of crying.

"Inari-kun…"

He heard a sniffle, then a response, "What do you want?"

"Ah…I'm sorry for Naruto's outburst. He's always been hotheaded. Ninja life…can be pretty harsh, you know. But Naruto…he's already had his fair share of pains."

"H-he looks so happy all the time! Why is that?"

"I suppose…he just got tired of being sad all the time, and decided to do something about it. He decided to become stronger, so he wouldn't have to be sad anymore. He might not look it, but his life was pretty hard. You see, he's an orphan, and for a reason I can't tell you, he was always ignored by everyone else in the village. So he must have been lonely, but he didn't let it get to him."

The door creaked open. "Do you-do you really think that you can win against Gatou?"

"If anybody could, then Naruto'd be the one to do it. He won't stop until he makes sure that Gatou's gone forever."

* * *

_**Land of Waves, Zabuza's hideout**_

"Brat, we're going to fight again in two days."

"What? So soon? I thought you said in a week!" Clone Naruto protested.

"Didn't you see what Gatou was like when he came by earlier today? If we don't get a move on, he might just hire new ninja. Besides, I'll be fully healed by then."

"…Fine. It can't be helped then. I'll be keeping tabs on Gatou then, during the fight."

"Do whatever you want. Just meet us back here when it's over."

"Oh yeah, by the way, I forgot to tell you, I have the blood from the boss."

"Oh?"

"I'm actually a new clone, you see. The old one dispelled when I came along. Here, this is where I'm keeping the blood," Clone Naruto rolled up his left sleeve to show a simple storage seal.

"You sealed in into yourself? What happens if you get dispelled?"

"Who knows? I have no idea, myself. Maybe it just ceases to exist. In any case, this is just a safety precaution, so you won't just take off with my blood."

"Still don't trust me, brat?"

"Sure I do, but situations can change. If something happens and our alliance breaks down, well, I won't let you have my blood in that case."

"Hehe…whatever."

* * *

The next day, the genins each continued their training. When Kakashi saw that both Sakura and Sasuke had mastered tree walking to an acceptable level and began water-walking (Sakura had mastered both, but still needed more stamina with walking on water), he allowed all three genin to be do their training at the bridge.

"Kakashi-sensei! I've tried everything! I still can't feel any earth chakra at all! I even tried to beg the stone to help me!"

Kakashi sweat dropped. "…Did the stone talk to you?"

"No! It didn't even move at all while I was lying on it for hours!"

"Hm…maybe that's what the stone wanted you to see?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"The stone didn't move at all right? Maybe that's what it's telling you to do. Don't move. Or…don't let your chakra move. The technique is, after all, meant to only make you use chakra once and it will stay until you dispel it. So, if you're channeling chakra to it constantly, you should try to stop that and just mold the chakra that's already there. "

Naruto's eyes widened. "Of course! Earth chakra is supposed to be strong, unbreakable, _and_ immovable! Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!"

Naruto then ran over to the rock he had been on the day before and sat down in a meditative position, focusing on removing all movement. He started to focus his chakra to his palm and concentrated on retaining the chakra there without sending more chakra.

* * *

When dinner time came, Inari didn't say a single word.

"Hey Naruto, what exactly were you doing yesterday and today, on that rock?" Sakura asked with burning curiosity.

"Heh! I was trying to become one with the stone!" Naruto replied excitedly. Earlier, he had finally managed to feel a slight difference between the chakra he normally used and this so-called earth chakra he was supposed to make.

"…become one with the stone? That sounds like something out of a manga!" Sakura commented.

"Only you would do something stupid like that, moron," Sasuke added.

"Hey! It's for a new Jutsu! I have to be completely still, you see."

"Sounds useless," Sasuke voiced.

"No it's not! You'll see! It's to make my clones stronger! If I can do this, I might even be able to make my own personal army of clones!" Naruto defended.

"Hn."

* * *

_**Land of Waves, Gatou's hideout**_

"Alright men! Get ready to head out!" Gatou shouted. "You two, I want you to capture Tazuna's daughter, and take her hostage. Get going." He gestured to the door.

"Got it." And the two men left.

Above them, a bird flew out the window and landed on the roof before transforming into Clone Naruto.

_I have to let the boss know!_

He held his hands in the cross seal and created/dispelled a Shadow Clone with minimal chakra. This time, not even a breeze could be felt as the technique was performed. There was no indication of any Jutsu except for the telltale chakra flare that could only be felt by sensor-types and seen by bloodline eye techniques.

* * *

_**Land of Waves, Tazuna's unfinished bridge**_

A mist covered the bridge as Kakashi and his students arrived with Tazuna. Team Seven braced themselves for the battle to come.

* * *

**A/N**:

*(1) - Stone Armor Jutsu - This is an Anime-only Jutsu. If you've never heard of it, it's because it was never in the manga. It can be found at Naruto Wikia.

RamenNight, did I ever tell you your reviews are awesome? That's the kind of review that I write for.

To everyone else:

Oh yeah, I decided that Naruto would be too hard-pressed to have simultaneously two long-term clones in existence. So, for now, there will only be the one clone with Zabuza, since I don't have any particularly good ideas for the second clone to go to, anyhow.

There wasn't a lot of action in this chapter, but there will be lots next chapter. I just wanted to develop the characters a bit with this chapter.

And this just for your information: Kakashi decided to teach Naruto "more" than the other two because he doesn't actually expect Naruto to get the technique. Chakra-flow based techniques (you can search this up), are basically techniques that involve the direct use of chakra rather than conversion into some actual effect. I suppose that by this definition, the Gentle Fist style of taijutsu could be considered to be chakra-flow based. Using such a technique with an affinity the way that Kakashi is telling Naruto to do, is extremely difficult without the earth nature, and great chakra control. He was trying to see to what extent Naruto could use his Shadow Clones to train. As for the water walking, this is just a logical step considering that in the manga, it seems to me as though Sakura was not taught the next step because it would've been trivial for her to master it with the way she mastered tree walking, while the other two just weren't ready. I doubt Kakashi had any real expectations for Sakura in the manga. That's why he kept remarking about how Naruto and Sasuke had such potential, but didn't say anything about Sakura.

Oh yes, there appear to be some similarities with earth chakra training and nature training. I don't know about you, but I've always felt that nature chakra must've had some relation to it, considering that you turn into a stone statue if you let nature chakra overwhelm you. Perhaps Naruto will have an easier time training sage arts in the future. You'll just have to keep reading to find out.


	8. The Secret Room

**_Somewhere in Fire Country_**

A man who a forehead protector with the character for "Oil" inscribed was reading from a piece of parchment as he walked.

_To my student Jiraiya,_

_Jiraiya, this is an important message. Please come back to Konoha as soon as possible. _

_Naruto has recently become a genin. But, he did so in quite the roundabout manner. One of his chuunin teachers was a traitor and sought to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing; he used Naruto's failure in the genin exam in order to manipulate Naruto into stealing the scroll for him. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so), Naruto accomplished the task, while learning the Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu within the span of a few hours. _

_As you already know from your previous observations, Naruto is much more capable than he lets on. And so, it is to my great concern that Naruto may have copied the rest of the Jutsus on the Forbidden Scroll, though he has yet to show signs of it. As most of these Jutsu directly involve the use of sealing, it seems prudent to me to call for you and have you educate him in seals, especially with his heritage._

_There is yet another reason for my calling you: it has come to my attention that Naruto has been using the Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu as a training method. I often see armies of Naruto-Clones training through my Telescope Jutsu. You are, of course, aware of the risks here. He is probably aware of the risks himself, but I would like for you to check up on the Nine-Tails seal to see what effects this highly chakra-intensive training is having._

_-Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves._

_P.S. When are you going to finish writing the next installment of Icha Icha?_

"The brat's finally become a genin, huh?"

The man put away the paper in a pocket and continued merrily on his way.

* * *

**_Land of Waves, Tazuna's Bridge_**

"Be careful, it seems that Zabuza's here. Tazuna-san, stay back," Kakashi warned.

"Finally, let's take them down!" Naruto declared. On the inside, he was concerned about what might happen. He had to make sure Gatou showed up before the fight went too far.

Then a rush of images came into his mind.

_Gatou's going after Tsunami-san? Damn, I should've left some clones behind!_

Kakashi and the three genin walked towards the mist. On the other side, they could see Zabuza was approaching with that masked hunter-nin.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to hand over the old man, now would you, Kakashi?" Zabuza's voice seemed to permeate through all of the mist.

"You're back for more? I thought Naruto here killed you last time," Kakashi taunted.

"Don't be stupid. I won't underestimate you this time."

"Ah…maybe…but you haven't seen what I can do either, since I underestimated you too."

"Heh…look. Your poor genin is shaking," Zabuza said in reference to Sasuke.

Suddenly water clones appeared from the mist, surrounding the Leaf group.

"…I'm shaking…with excitement." Sasuke responded.

"Do it, Sasuke!" Kakashi said.

In a quick burst of speed, Sasuke whipped out his kunai and slammed it into the water clone in front of him. Then he whirled around and easily disposed of the rest, leaving a large puddle of water on the ground.

"Hm? Impressive. It looks like he's grown, being able to destroy my water clones like that. Even though a water clone only has one-tenth of the original's strength."

"Even so, it is certainly impressive," the masked ninja added from beside Zabuza.

"That masked one…he's obviously Zabuza's comrade, standing next to him and all…," Kakashi said in a low voice to his students.

"He should stop hiding under that mask and face us!" Sakura asserted.

"I'll fight him. Tricking us with that stupid act…I hate bastards like that the most," Sasuke declared.

"You're so cool, Sasuke-kun!"

Both Naruto and Kakashi sighed.

"An impressive young man, but we already have the first advantage," Zabuza stated. "Go, Haku."

"Yes." Haku dashed forward towards Sasuke with an incredible speed, the likes of which the three genin had never seen before. Somehow, Sasuke still managed to avoid the swipe and countered with his own. Then he noticed the senbon needles held tightly in between each finger on Haku's fist. They shot off with a flick of the wrist, and in his effort to avoid them, Sasuke's arm was caught by Haku. In retaliation, Sasuke used the arm that was gripped to grab back onto the arm holding him, causing an apparent stalement.

"You are pretty fast. But from now on, you will only be able to run from me. I have already gained two advantages," Haku said.

"What?"

Then Haku began to perform hand seals with his unoccupied hand. "Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death."

The observers, except for Zabuza, all looked shocked to see many needles materializing from the air and the water on the ground, surrounding Sasuke and the masked ninja. The observing ninja were especially shocked that one-handed seals had just been performed.

As the needles approached, Sasuke concentrated his chakra to his legs. Meanwhile, Haku leapt backwards to get out of the crossfire. Not a second later, the needles slammed into the area the two had previous occupied, but Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

Shuriken flew down from the air, and Haku leapt back to avoid each one.

"You're pretty slow. From now on, you will only be able to run," Sasuke said in a mocking voice from behind Haku.

Immediately, Haku whirled around and engaged in a fierce direct taijutsu fight with Sasuke, but it seemed that Sasuke's speed was slightly higher, as Haku was then kicked back to Zabuza's direction.

"I can't have you underestimating my students by calling them brats. Sasuke is the Leaf's number one rookie. Sakura here is the brightest. And Naruto…he's the number one most surprising ninja," Kakashi declared.

"Haku…at this rate, we'll be pushed back. We can't have that, right?"

"Yes." Haku then got up and began a series of hand seals. "Secret Jutsu: Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors."

Before Sasuke even had a chance to react, all the water around him had suddenly formed mirrors that surrounded him from all sides, even from above.

Kakashi and Naruto's eyes widened.

_What kind of Jutsu is that!_

"Sakura, step in front of Tazuna and guard him until the fight is over!" Kakashi ordered.

At the same time, Naruto created five Shadow Clones. "Kakashi-sensei, if we're being attacked here, Tazuna's house might also be under attack! I'll send a few Shadow Clones back to guard them!"

"…Good thinking, Naruto."

Then three of the Shadow Clones dashed off in the direction of the village.

As soon as they did this, everyone there heard a cry from inside the cage of mirrors. Sasuke was being hit by senbon needles from all sides, which were flying at extremely high speeds that even Sasuke could not see well.

"We have to help him, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto declared, before charging forward with his clones. But Kakashi was already on the move, dashing towards the mirrors.

Unfortunately, he was intercepted by Zabuza with his giant cleaver.

"Too bad Kakashi. You'll have to fight me first if you want to help your student."

"Don't forget about me!" Naruto yelled before his clones surrounded Zabuza and proceeded to attack.

In a clean slash, both clones were defeated. Kakashi took the opening provided and dashed forward in front of Zabuza, heading for the mirrors.

"Not…so fast!" Zabuza growled before giving chase. Then a voice called from behind him, "Mass Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In an instant, a massive number of shuriken appeared from thin air and spun towards Zabuza.

"Water Release: Water Encampment Wall!" The water on the ground gathered together to form a wall for Zabuza. But due to the sudden appearance and the sheer number of shuriken, he was unable to block all of them. A few shuriken cut his arms and legs.

"Damn you, kid!" Zabuza muttered as the shield was released.

Behind him, Kakashi finished the hand seals for a fire Jutsu. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

A huge fireball engulfed several mirrors. At first, it seemed to melt slightly, but it reformed as fast as it melted.

On the inside, Sasuke was panting, having spent a great deal of stamina trying to avoid the senbon. Things were not looking good. On the plus side, it seemed as though he could see the senbon better than before now. 'So Fire Jutsu won't destroy the mirrors? Maybe we have to attack the mirrors from both the inside and the outside at the same time!'

"It's useless. You cannot hope to escape. My special Ice Mirrors will only disappear if I release them. Do you not see the futility of this fight? I do not wish to kill you, so just give up," Haku's voice rang out from every mirror.

'These mirrors are strong indeed. Looks like I'll have to…' Kakashi lifted up his headband that was covering his Sharingan eye. He saw that the mirrors had chakra flowing to them, a mix of wind and water. 'This is a bloodline elemental combination!'

He then ran through a series of hand seals, before holding his right hand with his left out in front of him, aimed at the ground. Sparks started to crackle around him, intensifying until the sound became like that of a thousand birds chirping. A bright ball of blue electricity formed in his right hand.

"Lightning Cutter!" Then he dashed forward towards the mirrors at high speed, holding his right arm behind him.

* * *

As the three clones approached Tazuna's house, they saw the two thugs that headed out earlier from Gatou's hideout holding onto Tsunami, and walking away from the house. That was bad, very bad. If they had Tsunami hostage already, it would be difficult to fight without putting her life at risk.

Then a small kid came running out of the house.

"Get away from my mom!"

It was Inari.

At the moment, he was scared, yet determined. He thought of Kakashi had said the night before: that Naruto knew what it meant to be strong, and that's why he was fighting. He thought of the three genin that trained hard even though Gatou was so powerful. 'They're all so cool…' He thought of Naruto, who had called him pathetic and refused to give up, and who was just like his dad Kaiza. '…so strong…' He had to be strong too, and that was why he chose to fight, even if winning was impossible.

"Kill him!" One of the thugs shouted before taking out a sword and charging towards Inari; the other thug mimicked his action.

As the two thugs got close, two Naruto-clones appeared behind them and kicked their heads, knocking them unconscious.

"Sorry we're late! But a hero always shows up at the last moment, you know!" A Naruto clone then ruffled Inari's hair. "Sorry about yesterday too, when I called you pathetic. I take it back! You're strong! You provided me with the perfect distraction to save your mom."

Just then, Inari began to cry. "Damn it, I said I wouldn't cry anymore. Now you'll call me a crybaby."

"No…It's alright to cry when you're happy."

* * *

As the sound of electricity cackling reached the ears of Naruto and Zabuza, they tried to find the source of it. They saw Kakashi holding the ball of lightning in his hands, as if preparing to hit the mirrors with it.

'He's using so much chakra that it's visible around his hands!' was the thought of Zabuza.

_So that's the technique that was rumored to have cut a lightning bolt in half…Lightning Cutter._

"Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu," Zabuza suddenly said, bringing Naruto out of his thoughts.

Naruto turned in all directions, but was unable to see anything around him.

Concentrating, he could still hear the sounds of senbon hitting the ground, and the occasional splash, but that was all. However, he couldn't hear any footsteps, which was probably something that came with Zabuza's reputation of being a master of the Silent Killing technique.

_If I can't see farther than a meter, then I'll just have to…!_

"Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The clones moved forward, spreading out to cover as much area as possible. Within seconds, Naruto felt a number of clones getting destroyed to his left.

_Now I know where he is…but how am I supposed to fight properly like this? I can't just blow up clones when Zabuza gets close to them, or else he might actually die. I have to clear this mist…

* * *

_

"Lightning Cutter!"

Kakashi's hand pierced through a mirror and tore it apart with one smooth slash from the bottom right to the top left. Panting slightly, he called out, "Sasuke, take this chance to escape!"

'He destroyed my mirror?' Haku thought as he saw the black haired genin run towards the opening.

A wave of senbon hit the ground in front of Sasuke, forcing him to swerve to the right. The pieces of the broken mirror began to reform rapidly. Not willing to waste his previous effort, Kakashi leapt in.

"How foolish. You should have stayed outside to try again," Haku's voice rang out once more.

"Sasuke, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, sensei. What do we do?" Sasuke answered while panting heavily.

"There is nothing you can do. To me, it is as if you are moving in slow motion. This is the power of my bloodline limit."

'This fake hunter-nin has a powerful bloodline limit. I hope Naruto can hold off Zabuza on his own…I better finish this quick,' Kakashi's mind raced. 'Fortunately, this guy was wrong about his speed. With my Sharingan…'

Kakashi disappeared in a burst of speed. Sasuke tried to follow Kakashi's movements with his eyes.

'What-?' Haku was surprised when Kakashi grabbed onto his leg as he was moving towards another mirror at his usual high speed, preparing to throw more senbon. Kakashi tried to throw Haku to the ground. Without missing a beat, Haku performed another Ice Jutsu.

"Secret Jutsu: Ice Spikes."

Large spikes made of ice pierced up from the ground, aimed at Kakashi, who jumped away.

'This speed! But I can almost see them now!' Sasuke thought. Then he started hand seals for his own Jutsu.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

The fire just missed Haku, who had sped to Sasuke's left, and hit the ice spikes instead. Unlike the mirrors, this ice melted without reforming.

Haku then began his one-handed seals again. "Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death." This time, Sasuke would not be able to escape by jumping up, since that direction was blocked off by ice mirrors.

'Damn!' Kakashi realized that the fake hunter-nin was trying to target Sasuke because he knew that Kakashi was a much more difficult fight.

"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!" As Kakashi finished the hand seals for his technique, the ground surrounding Sasuke moved up to form a protective wall in all lateral directions. At the same time, Haku stepped into a mirror once more.

Outside, several explosions could be heard.

* * *

"Transform!" several Shadow Clones said while transforming into large fans. Other Shadow Clones beside them took hold of the fans, and began to fan the mist.

Unfortunately, this idea didn't quite work out. The mist was not going away at all, probably because it was chakra-induced.

More Shadow Clones were destroyed, this time closer to Naruto than before.

Never before had Naruto been so annoyed by his lack of taijutsu ability. If he were more capable in direct close combat, then his clones would not be such easy pickings. Nor would Zabuza be able to use the Silent Killing technique so efficiently on him. He would definitely improve his taijutsu as soon as he got back to Konoha.

But he still had another option in this fight. A large explosion would probably remove the mist. All he had to do was make sure that the explosion didn't kill Zabuza outright or cause the bridge to collapse (which would endanger everybody on the bridge). Therefore, it was logical to let his clones explode higher up in the air.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto said, taking care to add extra chakra to these four new clones to maximize the explosive power.

The existing clones split into four groups and dashed off in a different direction each, followed by a new clone.

After positioning themselves, they began to form human pyramids, while the explosive clones climbed up to the top.

But before all four groups were ready, Zabuza struck at one of them, causing that particular human pyramid to collapse. The clones all dispelled themselves.

A moment later, the other pyramids dispelled just as explosive clones at the top jumped up and exploded.

This time, Naruto's efforts proved fruitful. The mist was blown away, and he could see again. Zabuza was now around ten meters in front of him. The ice mirrors were still present in the background, so most likely Kakashi-sensei had been unable to destroy the mirrors and had gotten inside.

"Heh…so you got rid of my mist. In that case, the real fight starts now!" Zabuza declared before beginning to perform hand seals. "Water Release: Violent Water Wave!"

From Zabuza's mouth shot out a concentrated stream of water headed right for Naruto. He just barely dodged the attack by strafing to the left.

Holding his hands in the cross seal, Naruto said, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu."

As with before, a large number of shuriken appeared from thin air and flew at Zabuza.

"That trick again? Water Release: Water Prison!" Zabuza said while doing the hand seals for his technique. A sphere of water not unlike the one he had used before on Kakashi formed around him from the water on the ground. The high density of the water blocked the oncoming shuriken. "You won't get me with that technique again."

Zabuza then released the water prison and jumped back. He then began an extremely long series of seals.

_Was that forty-four seals? What kind of Jutsu is this?_

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

Suddenly a gigantic dragon burst through the surface of bridge. The dragon flew up and then dived back down towards Naruto.

_Holy-_

Naruto quickly performed the hand seals for the Stone Armor, hoping that it would reduce the impact somewhat, even if it was barely functional at the moment. As soon as he felt the earth chakra flow through his body, the massive dragon slammed into him, pummeling him against the ground.

The force of the water dragon was so great that it created another hole through the bridge as it hit Naruto and the ground.

"Naruto!" shouted a mortified Sakura, who had been watching the battle closely before the mist came in and after the mist had been blown away.

* * *

Kakashi, with Sasuke in his arms, dug up from the ground after using the "Earth Release: Hiding like a Mole Jutsu" to escape the fake hunter-nin's Ice Jutsu. Earlier, he had used another Earth Release Jutsu to provide cover over himself and Sasuke in a complete dome, and used the opportunity to escape.

The two were just in time to see Zabuza, who had his back to them, finish his Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu. They could only watch as Naruto was hit by the full force of the technique.

"Damn!" Kakashi cursed while letting Sasuke down from his arms.

'Did he kill the dead-last?' Sasuke asked in his mind as he stared at the gaping hole in the bridge.

Behind them, the Ice Mirrors melted. Haku approached them calmly.

Zabuza turned around to see the two Leaf-nin and Haku who was behind them. His eyebrow rose—or, at least it would have if he had eyebrows; instead only the skin there rose—at seeing that Haku's technique was no longer there.

"You actually managed to escape that Jutsu?" he questioned incredulously of the Leaf-nin.

He received only glares in response.

"Well, now that I've taken care of the blond brat, it's just you and that brat beside you against the two of us. And he looks like he can barely stand," Zabuza said nonchalantly. But on the inside, he was hoping that the blond brat was still alive. He wondered if he had been a little too excited to fight again.

"I can still fight," Sasuke seethed.

* * *

Back beside Tazuna, Sakura was getting really worried about her last teammate. She was glad to see that Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun were alright, but Naruto was the bigger issue now, she admitted reluctantly. She didn't think that she'd be able to survive an attack like the one Naruto had just received. 'That idiot better not die on us!' Inner Sakura exclaimed. However much he annoyed her, he was still her teammate and she hoped dearly that he hadn't really died.

"Tazuna-san…I'm sorry, I'll have to leave you for a moment," she said to her client.

"Yeah…ok."

She ran to the edge of hole in the bridge where Naruto was blasted through.

"Na-Naruto? Are you there? Please say you're ok!" she called down.

Though she could see all the way down to the water through the meter thick bridge, Naruto was nowhere in sight. There was no response.

"Naruto…" she called again.

Still no response.

"Naruto…" she called once more, before tears started to form on her eyes. "Naruto…please…I'm sorry for calling you an idiot before…and I promise I won't hit you again! Just please…please be okay!"

Then she saw an arm reach up and grip onto the inside edge of the hole closest to her. It was then followed by another arm, and spikes of blond hair. "Urgh- "

Naruto climbed further up, releasing the chakra on his feet that stuck to the underside of the bridge. He continued to edge upwards, now planting his feet on the same surface as his hands. He paused and gasped for air.

"Naruto! You're okay!" Sakura exclaimed, breaking out into a smile while wiping her wet eyes.

"S-Sa-ku-ahh-"Naruto started to speak but then momentarily lost his concentration on his chakra and started to fall.

"I-idiot!" Sakura panicked again, but managed to grab onto Naruto's wrist just in time. Naruto's body dangled from her arm. "Come on, grab onto my arm with your other hand!"

He then did as ordered. After struggling for what felt like an eternity, Sakura finally managed to hoist Naruto up. She fell back and sat on the ground with her legs folded at the knees, panting slightly. Naruto lay face up on the ground beside her.

"T-thanks, Sakura-," Naruto managed to get out while panting, "-chan."

He probably wouldn't be able to move for awhile. To say that his body was a bit broken up would be a huge understatement. Even with his abnormal healing rate, it would likely take a couple of days to fully recover. At the moment, he was hurting all over. It felt like an elephant had just stomped on him, followed by drowning—which would probably be an accurate analogy for what just happened anyway.

* * *

When Kakashi and Sasuke saw Naruto get pulled up by Sakura, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Still haven't finished the job? How disappointing…Zabuza."

_He's finally here!_

The ninjas all turned to the direction of the voice to see Gatou with an army of men.

"Gatou…what are you doing here? And what's with these men?" Zabuza pretended to be clueless.

"The plan has changed…," Gatou started to explain with a wide smile, "…actually, I planned to do this from the beginning. We're going to kill you here, Zabuza."

"What?"

"I never planned on letting you keep the money I paid. Hiring a normal ninja from the villages is expensive and they may betray me. So I get you missing-nin who are easy to take care of afterwards. I get the ninja to battle each other and once they're weakened I kill them off with numbers. It doesn't cost me anything, good plan don't you think?"

"Kakashi…I'm sorry, this fight is over. Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you."

"Ah…"Kakashi started. Naruto seemed to be alright at the moment, so there really wasn't any reason to continue the fight against Zabuza. "You're right."

"These numbers…" Sasuke trailed off.

"And as for you Leaf ninja, don't even think about fighting back, or else we'll kill Tazuna's daughter," Gatou clapped his hands, as if in a gesture to some men behind him. "Hm?" He turned around when he heard no response.

Suddenly the two men behind him holding "Tsunami" as well as "Tsunami" disappeared in puffs of smoke to reveal three Narutos.

"Wh-What?" Gatou exclaimed while taking a step back, as did his men.

But the clones moved too quickly, two grabbing onto Gatou's arms, and the third swiftly took out a kunai and jammed it into Gatou's heart.

"Gu-aguh!" Gatou coughed blood out and twitched before falling still. The clones let the body fall to the ground with a thud.

The battlefield went silent.

"H-Hey! You just killed our meal-ticket!" One of the men Gatou brought alleged while pointing to Gatou's body.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Another added.

"You're going to get out of here," One Naruto-clone answered calmly.

"What? No way! Let's ransack the village!" An angry voice shouted. A wave of murmuring agreement ensued.

The men in the front took a step forward. Then an arrow hit the ground just in front of them.

"Don't you take a step in our village! We'll take you on!" a small boy's voice reverberated through the bridge. Inari had brought the whole village with him, armed and ready to fight.

_Hm…my clones should know what to do._

"Alright, Inari! We'll help too!" shouted one of the Naruto-clones. Then the three clones rapidly went through the hand seals for the regular Clone Jutsu, before shouting, "Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

There was a huge poof of smoke before suddenly a quarter of the bridge was filled with incorporeal Naruto-clones.

'Good idea, Naruto…' Kakashi thought when he, who still had his Sharingan eye uncovered, saw the three Shadow Clones faking the Shadow Clone Jutsu. "Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu, Kakashi Style!"

There was another huge poof of smoke before suddenly the rest of the bridge was filled with a massive army of illusory Kakashi-clones.

"So…you want some of this?" Kakashi drawled.

"N-no, we don't! Let's get out of here!" One of the men shouted in a panicky voice. As soon as he turned and started to run, the rest of the men followed suit.

The bridge was once again enveloped in a massive cloud of smoke as all the clones dispelled.

_To think I used to hate the Clone Jutsu for using so little chakra…

* * *

_

"My super bridge is finally finished! Now it just needs a super name!" Tazuna declared.

"I know! We should name it, The Great Naruto Bridge!" Inari suggested.

"After that super short blond kid? Why?"

"He did give the Land of Waves hope," Tsunami added.

"Why can't we name it the Great Tazuna Bridge?" the aged bridge-builder grumbled.

"Because Naruto-nii is the real hero!"

* * *

_**Somewhere in Fire Country**_

The four Leaf-nin walked leisurely on the path back to their village.

"Hey, Naruto. What did it feel like, to make your first kill?" Sakura inquired.

"Uh…I didn't really like it, but that Gatou bastard completely deserved it!" Naruto answered.

"Do you feel any stronger?" Sasuke asked.

"What? Why would I?" Naruto responded incredulously.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. He was both annoyed and glad at the same time for not being the first to make a kill. Annoyed because Naruto did it before him, and glad because he wasn't sure how he'd feel about killing. Would he end up becoming a insane murderer like Itachi? No—he couldn't think like that. He would definitely not be like Itachi.

There was a long period of silence after that that.

"So…" Kakashi started to speak, breaking the silence, "Sasuke, was that your first time activating the Sharingan?"

"What?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"You had your Sharingan on when we were fighting that fake hunter-nin. Didn't you notice?"

"I did?"

"Why don't you try and channel some chakra to your eyes?" Kakashi suggested.

Sasuke did as he was told. To his surprise, he could feel his Sharingan activate.

"Hm…you already have two tomoe in one of your Sharingan," Kakashi commented.

"Wow, you have the Sharingan too, Sasuke? That's so cool!" Sakura chirped.

* * *

**_Land of Whirlpools_**

"So, what's the plan, No-brows?"

Zabuza glared at the Naruto-clone.

"First, we find out if you're worth anything to me. Then, if you are capable of learning some helpful sealing techniques, you'll need to master them. While you do that, we're going to do some serious training. Since my coup d'état failed, some bloodline users have formed a faction to fight against the Fourth's ninja. I know some of the leaders of this group. We're going to join up with them when they're ready to start fighting."

"Hmm…they can't know about my affiliation with Konoha. Actually, I don't really want knowledge of my participation in this civil war spreading around," the Naruto-clone decided. He then reached up to his Leaf headband and took it off. It poofed into smoke in his hands.

"Don't worry about that. Just dye your hair red and we'll introduce you as the last Uzumaki. Your first name will be a secret to everybody but me and the leader of the group," Zabuza assured.

"You sound like you're very familiar with this leader," Naruto commented.

"I am. She was helping me secretly during my previous coup d'état," Zabuza explained.

"She?"

"A master of both the Boil and Lava Release. Of course she would fight for the bloodline clans."

"Hmm. How long until we're there?"

"We have nearly arrived, Naruto-san," Haku pointed to the island-like shape in the distance.

The three ninja continued to paddle their boat.

* * *

**_Konoha, Hokage's Office_**

"Welcome back, Jiraiya."

"Hey, sensei! Here's my latest book!" Jiraiya tossed over a copy of the second book in the Icha Icha series to the Third Hokage. "So, where's the brat?"

"Ah, thank you Jiraiya," the aged Hokage graciously accepted the book. Then he said, "Naruto-kun is on a mission in Wave country right now. He should be back in a couple of days."

"The Land of Waves? My spy network told me that Gatou of the shipping company was killed two days ago while he was in Wave. Something about a "Great Naruto Bridge" being named after the hero who defeated the evil shipping magnate," Jiraiya informed his former sensei with a huge grin.

"Oh, is that so? Naruto-kun has always been one to surprise."

In a soft voice, Jiraiya asked, "Does he know?"

"About the fox? Yes, he found out about it during his little escapade."

"No, I meant-"

"No, I haven't told him yet."

"Who'd you assign to be his jounin-sensei?"

"Kakashi. I assigned him Itachi's little brother too."

"Was that really a good idea?"

"Neither of them have families. Perhaps they will be able to find a kindred spirit in each other. And besides, Kakashi-kun's the only one who can teach Sasuke-kun how to use the Sharingan. And lazy as he is, he would give me all sorts of headaches if Naruto didn't get a sensei he deemed proper."

"He knows about Naruto's parents?"

"I'm not too sure, but he can probably see the family resemblance easily."

"Well then, I'm off to do some research! If you need me sensei, you know where to find me!"

* * *

**_Ruins of Uzushio_**

"This is it. This is the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides, or what's left of it anyway."

Naruto looked around. The place wasn't particular impressive. Then again, most of it was in ruins, so that should have been expected. He could see that a lot of the structures had that swirl symbol on it, and many were even built in circular shapes. There were only a few structures that remained standing.

"Lead the way."

As they walked through the debris, Naruto noticed that there were no bodies to be seen.

"What happened to all the villagers that were here when the village was destroyed?"

"How should I know? They were probably buried somewhere by surviving villagers."

"I thought you said the clan was supposed to be extinct," Naruto pointed out.

"The village isn't just the clan, you know. Mind you, it's possible that some descendents have survived and have scattered across the continent. Nobody really knows what happened to them, but they haven't shown their face since the village's destruction, so they're assumed to be all dead."

At this, Naruto felt a slight flicker of hope. Though it quickly died down when he reasoned that he'd probably never find any relatives if they weren't using the Uzumaki name.

"Over there," Zabuza said while pointing to a round structure that seemed to be relatively untouched. Actually, now that Naruto looked closely, the structure there appear not to have been damaged at all.

"Wow, it's not in ruins."

"Like I told you, it's completely sealed off. There's probably a very powerful barrier protecting it. Not even my Decapitating Carving Knife could make a mark on the walls. Maybe civilians would've been able to use it to hide during the attacks."

They stood in front of the doors. As Zabuza said, there were seals covering the entire structure, which was seemingly centered at the middle of the left door of the entrance.

"Hmm…here goes nothing," Naruto said before rolling up his sleeve and unsealing the vial of blood. He poured out a small drop onto his finger. Then he touched it to the apparent center of the seal.

For a moment, it seemed as though nothing happened.

"Che! Looks like you're not really an Uzumaki after all."

"No, wait, do you not hear that? It's opening."

And so, the doors did slowly grind open.

The three ninja walked in.

"This is just an empty room," Zabuza remarked.

"No, look at the huge seal on the ground. And over there, there are more seals. I think we have to do something with those seals, and this big seal on the ground will then do something else."

Suddenly the door behind them shut with a loud bang. The ninjas turned around, being surprised. The walls seemed to glow with light, allowing the three ninjas to see. There were several lines of text on the doors.

"It says, 'May your blood clear the passage through another world'," Naruto read. "Another world, huh? Could it be a reverse summoning? That would explain why this room looks empty."

"What about the next lines? It says, 'Let not your eyes taint your vision, but let your chakra show the truth'. What does that mean? What are we supposed to do?" Zabuza asked.

Naruto silently contemplated for a moment. He held his hands in the cross seal for a moment. In this moment, he had created and dispelled a shadow clone in order to communicate with the original. "Let us think on this for a bit."

"Go ahead," Zabuza answered before sitting down against a wall.

_It seems to be saying that there's a reverse summoning seal somewhere in this room, and I'd have to find it with my chakra somehow. Then these visible seals might be fake, or traps. But is that really it? That doesn't make any sense. Using my chakra to find the seals? But then that would just activate the seals. If there are traps here, then doing that would be stupid. _

Naruto turned and examined the rest of the room.

_Why is the wall glowing? Could the light be a way to trick us?_

He went back to the door. He closed his eyes and touched the text, channeling chakra to his palm and fingers, feeling the text.

_There's nothing here…it's just a smooth surface…so why can I see the text? Why can _we_ see the text?_

The more Naruto thought about it, the more it seemed to be a genjutsu of some sort. Then new memories reached the Naruto-clone.

_That's right! I've been thinking about this too much. This isn't some sort of riddle for me to solve… If this place was already here in the time of the Uzumaki, then it doesn't make any sense for them to put a riddle here. No, most likely, this isn't even a genjutsu. It's just a message created from seals. If the Uzumaki were masters of the Sealing art, then it must be assumed that anyone that came inside this room would be able to decipher and use the seals on the ground. This text then, is therefore a message. Or maybe it's a motto. Like Konoha's 'May your will of fire burn strongly!' sort of thing. That makes more sense, since it's on the back of the door, of all places. _

"Yeah, I think I know what to do," Naruto said out loud. "This here, is definitely some sort of reverse summoning seal. The seals beside it are probably what's making the walls glow. I don't recognize those seals, but I've seen summoning seals before and the big one has some similarities with them," he explained to Zabuza.

"Now what?"

"If this is a reverse summoning, then you won't be able to come with me, because it'll summon whoever provides the blood and chakra, and most likely it can only be an Uzumaki anyway. In that case, I'll leave behind another clone that will last for around 5 hours. That way, you can communicate with me while I'm gone. If I can't come back from wherever it is I go, then I'll have the boss recharge the clone that's with you with chakra."

"Got it."

The Naruto clone proceeded to make another clone just as he said. He still had more than enough chakra to last several more days. Although it had been nearly a week since he was first created, his chakra reserves had been recharged because of the fight on the bridge. The boss had made a large number of clones fighting against Zabuza in the thick mist.

"I'll be going now," Naruto informed Zabuza and Haku before taking out the vial of blood again and dropping some blood on the big seal on the ground.

_I wonder if clones can actually be summoned like this. I hope this works. If it does, I'll definitely have to look into making use of summoned clones in the future…_

The Naruto clone then touched the seal and applied chakra. Immediately, he felt a compressing sensation and saw smoke all around him. When it cleared, he was in another dim room. Judging by the shape of the rock around him, it was probably an underground chamber. Again, this room was rather limited in size.

However, what immediately caught Naruto's eyes were three things.

One, the wall had a drawing carved in. It depicted the symbol of the Senju Clan alongside the symbol of the Uzumaki clan. He remembered the symbol of the Senju clan from his studies in the Academy.

Two, on the ground was what looked like a journal of some sort and a scroll.

Three, just behind the scroll and journal was a stone statue of a toad.

* * *

**A/N: **What did you think of all the fighting in this chapter? It was rather different from what happened in canon. But perhaps you're more interested in what Naruto has just seen. There will be a series of revelations in the upcoming chapters. The information revealed will still fit the current canon story, but as more is revealed in the canon, it may become AU, just so you all know.

As of the publishing of this chapter, the latest manga chapter is 519.


	9. Three Teachers

**_Unknown Land, Secret Senju-Uzumaki Room_**

Over two hours had passed since Naruto had arrived in the room. He had been completely absorbed in the task of reading the journal he found.

When he at last reached the end, he stared at the stone toad statue.

There was shock, sadness, and pride all mixed together. So much had been revealed in that journal that he could never have even begun to imagine. Such was the impossibility of his legacy: he had descended from the first ninja to walk the land, the Sage of Six Paths.

When he encountered the journal and the scroll, he had immediately gone to the scroll because finding a seal technique that would be helpful to Zabuza was a more pressing matter. But when he opened the scroll, he found that there were three simple storage seals which each held a scroll within. They were labeled as such: Legacy of the Sage of Six Paths, Uzumaki, and Techniques to defeat Madara.

He was interested first in the "Techniques to defeat Madara", but somehow, the Legacy of Sage of Six Paths drew him to it instead. There was this strange feeling that he should read that first, and so he did.

When he did so, the text seemed like a ridiculous myth. He skimmed it over quickly and found that it contained the story of the Ten-Tailed beast and how the Sage of Six Paths sealed it into the Moon, splitting its chakra into the nine tailed beasts of today. There was also this strange explanation of the Rinnegan which the Sage of Six Paths possessed, and the true nature of chakra, or so it claimed.

Everything in it seemed so far detached from contemporary ninja world that he couldn't really believe it, so he stopped reading it. He would give it more attention when he had the time. Instead, he began reading the journal; it could perhaps give him insight as to who left this behind and for what purpose.

But now, after emerging from his stupor at the end of the journal, he almost felt scared of this Madara Uchiha person the journal was talking about. Apparently, the writer of the journal—whose name Naruto never found on the journal—was an Uzumaki whom Madara approached. He had offered to give the author of the journal the legendary Rinnegan, if he would help Madara in his plans. He had accepted Eventually the author realized how evil Madara was and decided that he had to defeat him. But Madara appeared so powerful that not even acquiring the Rinnegan would help him to defeat the man. As a result, he abandoned Madara, and didn't attempt to acquire the Rinnegan because the one step involved could potentially cause war between the Leaf and the Whirling Tides.

The Uzumaki was too ashamed to tell anyone else of his relationship with Madara, because he had already done some unspeakable crimes and so resolved to become strong enough to defeat Madara. He came to the conclusion that the only way was to acquire a power that even Madara did not have access to, a power achieved through hard work and not only bloodlines and such. This was something called "Sage Arts", which was apparently a power fueled by "Sage Chakra", which consisted of normal Yin and Yang chakra mixed with Nature chakra. To the Uzumakis, Nature chakra was also known by another name, "Blood Yang". This piece of information was actually also in the other scroll Naruto read, Legacy of the Sage. Apparently, the key to the Sage Arts was learning to be "dead". Normally, all humans possess only normal Yin and Yang chakra, which is supposed to be the energy of life. However, there also exists a second type of chakra in nature, which the Uzumakis called "Blood Yin" and "Blood Yang". This is a chakra that cannot be accessed without first "dying", or becoming fully in sync with nature. The basis of the Sage Arts was learning to manipulate Blood Yang in the body freely. The interesting part of all this, was that the Uzumaki clan and the Senju clan apparently both had a natural connection to "Blood Yang". This was because this chakra could also be passed down through the generations, similar to a bloodline. However, what was passed down only circulated within the blood, and not the chakra circuit. This was because blood cells are dead when they mature, so they could carry such chakra, hence the name given to them. But in this state, the chakra cannot be used for Jutsu because all chakra requires both Yin and Yang natures, which the Senju and Uzumaki lacked because did not have access to Blood Yin. Over time, some of the characteristics of the chakra seeped through to the normal chakra system. Originally, the two sons of the Sage of Six Paths were each given Blood Yin and Blood Yang. The elder brother, who also received the eyes of the Sage, carried the Blood Yin, which was fueled by intense emotion and spirituality. Thus, the Uchiha clan ended up developing techniques capable of controlling other living things forcibly through strong will power, as well as their affinity to fire, which had a symbolic connection to rage and intense desire. On the other hand, the younger brother who received the chakra of the Sage went on to found the Senju clan. Since their chakra was already powerful, the vitality of Blood Yang eventually caused them to manifest very strongly any traits they already possessed, such as extreme affinities to a particular nature. When the Senju clan split with the Uzumaki clan, the Uzumaki clan had gained the basic characteristic of Blood Yang, which was vitality. They thus became known as the clan of longevity, living unnaturally long lifespans.

Through experimentation, it was found that Blood Yang could be harnessed and mixed with normal chakra to produce Sage chakra through a perfect emulation of death. It was necessary to be in a death-like state of complete non-movement and synchronization with nature when drawing the chakra into the system. Once in the system, this chakra could be controlled and mixed with normal chakra to produce Sage Chakra. If there is not enough control when mixing the chakra, however, the unrefined Blood Yang would begin to take over the normal chakra and force its characteristics on anything it touched. The result? Turning into a stone statue, because living things are not supposed to be able to contain Blood Yang. The Uzumaki's natural connection to Blood Yang did not help them. Only one person succeeded, and he gained such immense strength that he could lift mountain, gained jutsu capable of destroying a mountain, and gained a body so strong it couldn't be crushed by a mountain. Every other person that attempted it failed and became a statue. For this reason, all attempts to harness the energy were stopped, and it was deemed a forbidden jutsu never to be spoken of again. In desperation, this Uzumaki decided to try it to gain the power necessary to match Madara and his "Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan", which the Uzumaki wrote had probably come as a result of manipulating Blood Yin, somehow, but he did not know.

However much the Uzumaki needed it, he too failed and the toad statue in the room was proof of that.

_How powerful could Madara be that only this kind of power could "match" him?_

The thought was scary. And there was no guarantee that it would actually match him. According to the journal, Madara hadn't lost to Hashirama Senju as the legend goes, but instead manipulated the First Hokage into a fight in order to gain access to his powers, somehow. Naruto shuddered to think what such a person would be capable of doing to the world.

But then he realized that if Madara was supposed to be one of the founders of Konoha as the journal claimed, then he was certain to be dead by now. Thinking about this, he then remembered the reason he was interested in the "Techniques to defeat Madara" scroll: he needed to find sealing techniques and report to Zabuza.

_Maybe I should check out the Uzumaki scroll first. Madara's a person anyway, so that scroll probably won't have what I'm looking for._

Opening the Uzumaki scroll this time, he realized that it had no techniques in it whatsoever. It was just a history of the clan, which he would have to peruse at some later time.

_Damn, I guess that means I won't be learning any Uzumaki techniques…_

As he sealed the Uzumaki scroll back in and unsealed the final scroll, he resisted the feeling of pall that crept up. Certainly, he had already discovered incredible things today. But if he couldn't find any useful sealing techniques, there was a good chance that Zabuza would refuse to teach him anything. Then again, according to the journal, Madara was once capable of summoning the Nine-Tails before he was defeated and Mito Uzumaki sealed it within herself. So, there was still hope.

Naruto read the list of techniques quickly. It was quite short, probably because there wasn't really any way to actually counter Madara. He was practically invincible.

The very last technique on the list caught his eye. It was meant as a countermeasure for when Madara reacquired and summoned the Nine-Tails. Called the "Four Symbols Seal", it was apparently most likely to be the same technique used by Mito Uzumaki to seal the Nine-Tails in herself, being a slight modification from an original Uzumaki seal with the same "even-nature". Naruto couldn't quite understand what that meant, but if the Hidden Mist continued to use the same seal provided to them by the Uzumaki long ago, then it could very well be the seal this one was based off of. Thus, a good understanding of this seal would provide Naruto with the first step toward finding the means of taking down the fourth Mizukage.

That would have to do for now. After all, there wasn't any other remotely helpful technique.

Thinking that he should finish examining the Legacy of the Sage and the Uzumaki scrolls, the Naruto-clone created a new clone with enough chakra to last for a few more hours and left it to its task. Then the first clone looked at the seal on the ground that looked very similar to the one he saw in the room he came from.

* * *

**_Uzushio, Sealed Room_**

"So, any luck?" said Zabuza while glaring any the Naruto-clone that returned.

"Yes. I think I know what your Mizukage's seal is. That means I should be able to find weaknesses and potentially prevent him from using the Three-Tails' chakra. I'll need to thoroughly study seals though, but this is pretty big."

"In other words…you don't have a technique that can stop him, right?"

"Hey, I just told you, this is a big step forward. I might not have a technique ready right now, but I'm sure I'll come up with something now that I know what seal the Fourth has on him, assuming your claim that the Hidden Mist still uses the same seal the Uzumaki gave them is correct. Have you actually seen it before? Can you tell me what it looked like?"

"I can only give a vague description. It was circular with four lines outside, or something like that," Zabuza responded.

"Perfect! I'm almost certain that it's the one I just learned about," the Naruto-clone replied happily.

"Tch, let's get going then. Is there anywhere you need to go to help you find the technique you need?" Zabuza asked while motioning towards the door.

"No. I'll have to learn more about seals by myself, or from my current jounin-sensei. The boss will take care of that. What does the rebellion's timeframe look like?" Naruto said as he pushed open the door.

"It will be over a year before the rebels have enough power to seriously consider attempting a full rebellion."

The group of three slowly walked towards the way they came to the room, to the island coast.

"Hey, you said before that you needed money to finance the rebel forces. With Gatou dead, why didn't you just take money from his bank account?" Naruto asked curiously. He knew that Gatou was extremely rich.

"If it were that easy, then how do you think Gatou managed to stay alive for so long? Ninja don't mess with the banking system, because it's critical to allow the ninja system to function in the first place. If you assassinate someone rich and take his money, then for a nukenin, your bounty will skyrocket to become probably the biggest in the bingo book because the daimyo will see you as a threat to his country's core military and economic power."

"Oh, I never thought of that. So that means our other goal besides training should be to acquire more money just like before, right? How should we do that?"

"Seeing as working for hire didn't work well, the only choice is bounty hunting."

Just as they reached the boat they arrived on, Naruto spoke out.

"Hold on, if we're going to go bounty hunting, that means we'll have to fight, which means I might get dispelled. You still haven't taught me any defensive jutsu yet, so why don't we train right here? There's plenty of water, and hunter-nin won't be able to find us here, right?"

Zabuza turned around and look at the Naruto-clone for a moment before saying, "Fine, I did agree to train you."

* * *

**_Konoha_**

_Where will I find someone to teach me taijutsu? I can't ask too much of Kakashi, since I need to learn sealing from him._

Naruto walked aimlessly around Konoha while planning his future actions. After the C-rank turned A-rank mission, Team 7 was given a short day off. As such, Naruto was left with nothing to do, since Shikamaru would be on missions, and it would be difficult to train taijutsu by himself.

He took this time to simply think while walking around, letting his clones train his Stone Armor Jutsu and Water Walking combined with the Leaf Concentration exercise.

The trip with Zabuza to the Whirling Tides had proven far more valuable than he had ever imagined. Assuming the veracity of the stuff written in the Legacy of the Sage scroll, he could potentially become incredibly powerful, if he played his cards right. The one problem was that even if he could acquire the legendary "Rinnegan" by following the instructions on the scroll, there was no way to know how to use it. There hadn't been an explanation of what the doujutsu could actually do. Thus, he would have to relegate its acquisition to a low priority. Thus, his main priorities at the moment consisted of the following: becoming better at taijutsu to raise the effectiveness of his clones, figuring out a way to exploit the Four Symbols Seal for Zabuza after learning advanced sealing techniques, mastering the Stone Armor Jutsu, and lastly…getting ready for the Chuunin exams that would probably be in a month or so.

After that A-rank mission, Kakashi was very likely to nominate Team 7 for the exams. Naruto knew that there were often spectators during the exams, including Kage from foreign countries. This would be the best time to reveal his true personality and skills, as that would be necessary at some point if he wanted to be Hokage. And what better time than when all sorts of important figures would be watching? He would have to become a lot stronger, and also get some new clothes more fitting of his soon-to-be Hokage image. He would need a custom design that prominently featured the Uzumaki clan symbol and Konoha's motto of "The Will of Fire".

Just then, a perverted giggle drew Naruto out of his thoughts. He looked to his left to see a really long white-haired man with a huge scroll on his back peeping through a hole in the women's bathhouse.

_This guy is even more daring than Kakashi-sensei! Peeping where anybody walking by could see him!_

"Hey, what're you doing?" Naruto called out to him.

The man turned around and looked at the newcomer. His face had red markings and his forehead held a protector that displayed the character for Oil.

_Oil? What village is that?_

"Go away, brat. Can't you see I'm busy here?" The man proceeded to continue peeping and giggling.

"Hey, don't you ignore me! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf!"

Naruto's eye twitched, as there was no indication that the man even heard Naruto.

"Alright, that's it, I won't let some foreign ninja peep on the women of the Hidden Leaf!" Naruto ran towards the man preparing to punch him.

Suddenly, just before Naruto reached him, there was a big puff of smoke and a giant toad appeared, with the man sitting on top of it. The toad's tongue reached out and grabbed Naruto before flinging him a few metres away.

"Man, keep quiet, kid… whacha gonna do if I get caught?"

Naruto got up and wiped the dirt off his mouth. "You…who are you and what's with that huge frog?"

"Alright, hold on! Thanks for asking! I'm Mt. Myoboku-gama's Holy Master Sage, also known as the Toad Sage, remember it!" The man declared while doing a bunch of awkward poses in sync with the toad.

"Toad Sage…? And what were you doing?"

"This is my work. I'm a writer, working on a new novel," came the response, just as the self-proclaimed Toad Sage jumped off the toad and started walking towards Naruto. He then pulled out a book from inside his clothes, and showed it to Naruto. The title was "Come Come Paradise".

Naruto's jaw dropped as he thought of the orange book Kakashi always read in public.

"Ahh! That is..!"

"Oh! You know about this?" The man asked with a wide grin. 'It's getting pretty famous,' he thought.

"Yeah, it's that nasty book!" Naruto exclaimed while pointing at said book. The man looked miffed. Naruto then continued, "Anyways, what do you mean by work? You were just peeping into the women's bath, you pervert!"

"You fool! I am not just a pervert! Peeping gives me inspiration to write better!"

"You liar! What a lame excuse! You're just a lame pervert!"

"No, it's not true! I'm not just a pervert! I am…" The man started.

"Yeah, then what are you?"

"…a SUPER PERVERT!"

_Damn, this guy is totally crazy. How did he become a Sannin?_

"Tch! I can't believe Jiraiya of the Sannin is really this kind of person," Naruto commented.

"Oh? You already knew who I was, then?"

"I realized who you were after you pulled out that perverted book."

"Alright, whaddaya want, kid?"

_Huh...I didn't really need anyth–that's it!_

"If you're one of the Sannin, you've gotta be really strong, right? Can you train me and teach me how to use seals?"

"Train you? Why should I?"

"That Come Come Paradise is so cool…"

"Liar, this book is only for adults. Compliments will get you nowhere with me."

"Then how about—" Naruto said before forming a hand sign. "Sexy Jutsu!"

"I like you!"

_He's an idiot…_

"Wow, just my type of girl! What's this jutsu huh?"

"Oh… I call it, Sexy Jutsu, but…" Naruto in his transformed state said.

"OOHH-What creativity! You're a genius!"

"Then…you'll help me with me training?" Naruto said cutely.

"Yes! But there's a condition!"

"Condition? …What?"

"In my presence… you must always be like that…"

"..!" Naruto transformed back. "No way! How am I supposed to train like that!"

"Well, that's the condition, kid. Don't you want training from the legendary Jiraiya?"

"Oh come on! You should be dying to train somebody with the same name as the main character of your book!"

"Huh?"

"You wrote that Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja book, didn't you? The one whose main character's name is Naruto! Well, I'm Naruto too! You could be overseeing the real-life development of a character just like your main character!"

"You read that book?"

"Yeah! So come on! Just train me! Destiny is practically stripping in front of you!"

"Destiny, huh…" Jiraiya said with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Very well, then. You got yourself a new sensei, kid."

"That's righ-Wha- Really?"

"Don't look a gift toad in the mouth, kid. We'll begin immediately. Why don't you show me all your skills first?" Jiraiya motioned toward the toad behind him. "Here, hop on. We'll go somewhere suitable for training."

Naruto looked dumbfounded.

_Wow. He's really going to train me. _

"Yeah, alright!"

* * *

"Come at me with everything you've got," Jiraiya instructed.

_In other words, I have to prove I'm worth being trained by a Sannin. _

Naruto then dispelled all the clones currently training in the Hidden Leaf Village. They were currently in a small forest clearing, and Jiraiya had dispelled his giant toad.

He created five Shadow Clones. All of them, and the original, ran through the handseals required for the Stone Armor Jutsu. Then, they moved out and surrounded Jiraiya in a large circle, with the original staying outside.

Then the clones rushed towards Jiraiya. As the clones threw punches, Jiraiya grabbed one arm and swung the clone he held around to defeat all the clones.

"What, is this a brawl? You don't even have any taijutsu form."

Thus, the real Naruto rushed towards Jiraiya, preparing to use the basic Taijutsu taught in the Academy. Of course, naturally Jiraiya punched Naruto away after dodging a few hits.

It appeared that Naruto's Stone Armor was completely useless. It had practically no effects on either him or his clones thus far. As Naruto got up, he pulled out four shuriken and threw all of them at Jiraiya. Two embedded themselves in a tree behind Jiraiya after being dodged. One was knocked aside to the ground, and Jiraiya caught the last one.

"Is that all you got? Man, I'd be ashamed to teach somebody this weak," Jiraiya taunted while twirling the shuriken on his finger.

"Shut up, you haven't seen anything yet," came the response from Naruto. He then created four more clones and again surrounded Jiraiya.

"Again?"

Each clone then took out five shuriken and threw it at Jiraiya, who simply jumped up to avoid all of them. As he was falling down, the real Naruto threw in a smoke bomb, before rushing in, along with the five clones. As Jiraiya hadn't sensed any attacks, he simply waited in the smoke in a ready stance until it cleared. He wondered what the point of that was. When it did clear, it revealed five Narutos surrounding Jiraiya in a tight circle. One Naruto rushed forward with a kunai towards Jiraiya's back while two grabbed the Narutos beside them and flung them at Jiraiya, before jumping away from the circle. Then two clones of Jiraiya popped into existence beside him, and each Jiraiya defeated one approaching Naruto.

As soon as the three Naruto-clones were defeated and puffed into smoke, the two remaining Narutos, one positioned in front of Jiraiya and the other behind, each threw a kunai at Jiraiya.

"This is getting b-" Jiraiya was cut off when the two Narutos held the cross seal and the two kunai turned into two thousand. His eyes widened slightly before he formed several hand signs in quick succession. The Jiraiya clones puffed out of existence as they were hit by countless kunai, while the real Jiraiya…was covered from head to toe in a massive amount of spikey white hair. "Needle Jizo," he declared. "Not bad, to think you know two A-rank jutsu already, as a genin."

"I'm not done yet," Naruto's voice spoke from outside the clearing. Suddenly, several Naruto clones retransformed from being shuriken/kunai on the ground and yelled, "Detonate!" Thus, the clearing was engulfed in a explosion created from several exploding clones exploding at once.

_Now that I'm using clones instead of the exploding tags I used with Kakashi, it should be too fast for him prepare a replacement jutsu in time. Still, even though I used a huge amount of chakra to produce that gigantic explosion with multiple clones, a Sannin should be able to survive somehow._

Naruto jumped out from a nearby tree and inspected his handiwork. There was now a crater a bit bigger than the original clearing. Jiraiya, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Then Jiraiya poofed into existence at the centre of the crater. His clothes were partially gone and revealed some skin that had minor burn marks on them. He had a huge grin on his face.

"Damn, I wasn't expecting you to have so much chakra left after using all those clones. And you almost got me there; a lesser ninja would surely have been killed. I can proudly say you will be a great apprentice," Jiraiya said while wiping the dirt off his now torn clothes and walking towards Naruto.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you manage to get out of that explosion just now?"

"I reverse summoned myself into a toad's stomach. It's meant to take my opponent with me as an offensive jutsu, but it works for tight situations that like that one as well. I'll teach it to you eventually, after you get familiar with the toad summons."

"A reverse summoning? I've never heard of that befo—wait, did you just say what I think you said? About the toad summons?" Naruto was astonished, as the Toad Sage had just implied that he would let Naruto sign the Toad Summoning Contract.

"That's right kid. If you're going to be the apprentice of the fabulous Sage of Mt. Myoboku, you'll need to be able to summon toads, eventually. But not now. You still have to missions with your team every day, don't you? Learning to summon toads effectively will take a lot of time and chakra, which you don't have since you still need to take missions with your team every day."

"That's okay, I can just use my clones to train. I already use my clones for training every day while I'm on missions."

"That won't do, not for summoning. You need to use up some blood each time to perform a summoning, so you can't practice with your clones in large quantities. Speaking of which, how many clones can you make, and how long do they last for? You used an impressive number of clones in our little battle just now."

"Well…for training, if I want them to last for a few hours while doing basic chakra control exercises that I usually ask them to do, I can make about one hundred safely. But I recover chakra really fast, so after a few hours and a meal I should be back to about full again."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "One hundred clones, all using chakra for training, and they last for a few hours? That's…unbelievable. When did you start this training? Your chakra control must be incredible by now."

"I started after I learned the technique, which was right when I graduated. At first, when I made a hundred clones to train with, they didn't last for even an hour, before I had to make them again. But yeah, my chakra control has become way better, so they can last for almost four hours. Now, I can really take advantage of my sleep time."

"They don't disappear when you go to sleep?" Jiraiya was surprised. The level of subconscious control required to maintain the jutsu even during sleep was something that only a veteran and frequent user of the technique should be capable of.

"Yeah. Are they supposed to?" Naruto wondered.

"No, not if you're highly skilled and maintain them subconsciously. This is the perfect training method for you! With the amount of chakra you have, you'll master new techniques in no time! That reminds me, have you ever felt _another _chakra? Besides the one you normally have?" Jiraiya inquired.

Naruto thought for a moment. He had never felt anything like that. Although, he had a good idea what Jiraiya was getting at.

"You're talking about the Nine-Tails' chakra, right? No, I've never felt it before, at all."

"Never?"

"Never."

'He'll have to learn to use it at some point…maybe when I teach him summoning…' Jiraiya thought to himself.

"Am I supposed to?"

"Hold on, lift up your shirt so I can see your belly."

"Umm…Okay."

There was nothing there, so Jiraiya asked him to build up chakra. Then the black markings appeared, revealing the seals that the Fourth used to seal the Nine-Tails.

'So this is the Nine-Tails seal method…two four elephant seals…a double seal…maybe the Eight Trigrams Seal method…it's set up so some sort of chakra slips out from between the elephant seals and combines with the kid's chakra. It's to protect this kid…right, the Fourth?' Jiraiya thought as he closely examined the seal on Naruto's abdomen.

_So the seal shows up only when I use chakra, huh? No wonder I never noticed it before._

As Jiraiya got up again, he continued to think. 'So he's receiving chakra all the time, which explains his incredible chakra recovery rate and reserves. But the strength of the seal means that he won't feel it unless he learns to actively call on the Nine-Tails' chakra, or the chakra forcibly kicks in during times of danger so that the Nine-Tails can save itself.'

"One day, you might need to use that power, the power of the Nine-Tails. But for now, it seems that you've been strong enough to get by without it," Jiraiya declared.

"I won't use it at all if I can help it. Using such demonic and evil chakra…there'll be side effects, won't there?" Naruto shot back.

"Probably. But for now, you won't have to worry about it. Though, let me know if you ever feel it, or if anything weird happens with your seal. You're smart enough to tell when something's wrong." Jiraiya looked at the sky. It was going to be dark in an hour or so. "Alright, it's getting late. Let's meet near the bathhouses again in the morning every day, at 6. That gives us an hour before most teams start their missions, which will be enough for me to teach you something, even though it's a very short time, and you can practice with your clones until the next day."

"Hehe...don't worry about that. Kaka-sensei always shows up three hours late, at 10 o'clock, so we'll have nearly 4 hours. I'll send a clone every day to wait just in case though. And if I get another C-rank mission, I'll leave a message for you at the women's bathhouse."

"Alright, but before you go, let me teach you a new technique. I want to see how fast you can learn."

"Oh, sure!" Naruto replied enthusiastically. He was going to be taught a new technique by a Sannin. Although, it probably wouldn't be particularly powerful since he's still just testing him.

"First, tell me what techniques you already know."

Naruto thought for a moment, then responded, "Well, actually I basically showed you everything I knew in that battle, besides the standard Academy Jutsus, and Body Flicker. I actually don't know any techniques other than Shadow Clone, Shuriken Shadow Clone, and the Exploding Clone. And the Exploding clone isn't really a ninjutsu, it's basically just a normal Shadow Clone with explosive seals that I create from chakra during the Shadow Clone technique."

'He invented his own explosive clones with seals? That's pretty impressive, for a genin. Looks like I have another genius on my hands...' Jiraiya thought to himself. Then he noticed the peculiarity. "Wait, all you know is 3 A-rank Jutus? And all of them are based off of the Shadow Clone."

"The Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu I came up with myself, as well."

'So, he invented not one, but _two_ techniques already, both A-rank. And to think he came up with the same Jutsu the Professor invented…' Jiraiya remarked in his mind.

Naruto continued, "I only really learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Kakashi-sensei hasn't taught me or my teammates any techniques." Then Naruto remembered his incomplete technique. "No, wait, he did teach me this one technique, the Stone Armor Jutsu, but it's still incomplete. I tried using it earlier against you, but it didn't do anything."

"Stone Armor…that's a Hidden Rock technique that uses chakra flow, if I remember correctly from the Third Ninja War. Do you have an Earth affinity?" Jiraiya asked curiously. He had been expecting Naruto to be a wind type like his father, or a water type like his mother.

"I'm not sure…but I don't think so. I couldn't feel earth chakra at all when I started, and I can barely feel it even now. I never tested myself for my affinity."

"…Then what the heck did Kakashi tell you to do? How are you supposed to learn a chakra-flow based elemental jutsu without the affinity for it?" Jiraiya's faced look thoroughly scandalized.

Naruto was taken aback by the outburst, responding, "Uh-um, he did say that a chakra-flow type Jutsu would be more difficult without the affinity, but he also said that it should be possible to learn these techniques regardless, and that practice with it would develop the affinity. He didn't teach me how to develop the affinity through training, because it would be better to develop my primary affinity first."

"…" Jiraiya's face twitched. 'And he's supposed to be a genius!' "Listen, kid, I don't know where Kakashi got that stupid idea from, but any chakra-flow type Jutsus will require the user to have the elemental affinity for it. Actually, he probably thought you didn't need the affinity because by the time he copied it, he probably already developed the Earth chakra affinity after copying countless other Earth Jutsus, unwittingly. Frankly, I'm surprised you can feel any Earth chakra at all." He paused for a moment, before continuing, "Let me explain to you how chakra and Jutsus are created. There are two steps to creating a Jutsu. These are Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation. Shape transformation involves directly molding the chakra and giving it shape, like this." He then proceeded to hold his right hand palm up, and chakra visibly swirled and condensed into a blue ball.

"Woah! The chakra is visible!"

"Yes, this is called the Rasengan, it's one of the Fourth Hokage's techniques. It's also the pinnacle of Shape Transformation, an A-rank jutsu whose power comes solely from Shape Transformation and nothing else. But most jutsu don't work that way. They usually also involve a degree of Nature Transformation. Here's where it gets a little tricky. The key behind Nature Transformation is that it uses your chakra to produce something different. When normal chakra is transformed into one of the 5 main elements, it takes on additional characteristics. For example, Earth chakra is hard. They have other characteristics too besides the obvious, but that's not really important for now. You'll understand as you master an affinity. These additional characteristics are critical when you're trying to _produce_ an effect. I'll use an obvious example to show you what I mean, water chakra. Tell me, what do you remember about the Second Hokage's most famous abilities?"

Naruto thought back to the Academy's history lessons that he had memorized completely. "He was a master of the water element, capable of drawing immense amounts of water from the air, and even filling the lakes around Konoha with his Jutsu."

"That's right. Most water-users need to actually have water around them to be effective in battle. But the Second did not. As you said, he could simply produce enormous amounts of water from the air. This is the effect of an extremely high water affinity. In theory, it should be possible even for those without a water affinity to manipulate water by using normal chakra, if they practice long enough. But to produce water, you will either need a water affinity, or you'll have to practice with manipulating water with normal chakra for many years until you develop enough of an affinity to do it. This is the fundamental rule of Nature Transformation. You can manipulate existing elements with pure normal chakra, but you need elemental chakra to produce the element or to imbue it with certain characteristics. Don't bother wasting your chakra trying to learn the Stone Armor anymore," Jiraiya finished his long explanation.

"But! I really want to learn that Jutsu! It'll multiply my combat ability with my clones!" Naruto whined.

"Well if you want it that badly, I'll show you the Earth chakra training tomorrow. Don't get your hopes up though. Normally it takes years to master an affinity. Most ninja only ever master two in their lifetimes, some three. Anyways, I promised you a new technique! We don't have much time, but this one should be easy," Jiraiya then let out a perverted giggle, "and quite useful, I might add."

* * *

**_Uzushio Ruins_**

"You're finally getting the hang of it, brat. At this rate, you'll be able to use it in battle in a few months, the Silent Killing technique. In a few weeks, you should be good enough to stay out of harm's way at least, when I'm fighting a bounty."

"I won't even take that long. I haven't started using my special training method yet," the Naruto-clone responded while watching another blindfolded Naruto-clone dodge a simple punch from Zabuza, who was making no effort to be silent yet. He couldn't risk himself in the training, or else he might be dispelled on a failed attempt to dodge.

"Special training method?" Haku asked from beside him.

"It's a secret. All you need to know is that I'll improve a lot faster than you think, once I get my real self to use it."

_That's right…although, I would have preferred a _real_ defensive technique…tch, I guess I can't blame the _Demon of the Mist_ for not needing to have defensive Jutsu._

Naruto lay in bed, slightly tired after doing some intensive physical exercise. He would have to buy weights at some point to raise the effectiveness of his physical training regimen.

As he stared up at the ceiling, he went through the events of the day in his mind, trying to see if there was anything interesting or useful that he missed before. Finding nothing, he closed his eyes. The image of the beautiful spinning ball of chakra in Jiraiya's palm came to him.

_Chakra so powerful it's visible…the only other time I've seen something like that was—_

His eyes flew open. The only other time he'd seen visible chakra, and in fact also held in the palm, was when Kakashi-sensei charged up his Lightning Cutter on the incomplete bridge in Wave.

_That must be…the combination of Shape and Nature Transformation…incredible._

"Tomorrow, I'll have three teachers teaching me…or at least, supposed to be teaching me," Naruto close his eyes again while smirking. "I can't wait."

* * *

**A/N**: Hello, I'm back, after almost half a year without any activity. I would say that the "research" I said I would be doing last chapter took longer than expected, but that's a bit ridiculous. There were simply a variety of other matters I had to deal with and so this got sidelined.

On the other hand, this also gave me opportunity to thoroughly think about the story as a whole and work out many details. It's also quite fortunate that my plans for this story haven't become AU, as everything still fits with the current canon manga information.

Anyways, let me address some valid concerns that popped up in reviews.

The first was regarding Naruto's behavior. Well fortunately, those request to see a change in behavior will see it soon, and quite drastically when the chuunin exams start. This was planned from the beginning, since it would be quite unreasonable for Naruto to take off his "mask" without any particular reason. And traumatic events are no-go, because I simply fail to see how anything traumatic could happen to Naruto while presumably under the protection of the Third's elite ninjas.

Regarding the plot line, it's true that I'm sticking to the main story. Well, I don't believe in the butterfly effect. Well…not quite that dramatic, but at the very least, I simply don't see how events could've changed considering that Naruto played either a minor role or no role at all as the cause of the events that have happened thus far. They will change only when logic shows a clear cause and effect relationship (For example, in the manga, it was stated that Jiraiya only went back to Konoha because he felt like doing research, not because he was asked to, in light of Orochimaru's appearance. But I can reasonably anticipate that he _would_ take action if his godson was the issue at hand).

I will correct the error with Rock Lee's chakra coils, so thank you for pointing that out, Rock's Razor.

Thanks to everyone for all their input. Every piece of criticism is valued, even if I defend my work against it sometimes.


	10. This is Getting Interesting

_**Uzushio Ruins**_

"We are getting out of here. Now."

"What's the rush? Are we really so desperate for money?" The Naruto-clone asked.

"I am sick of eating fish," Zabuza responded. "Besides, you improved even faster than I expected. Your ability to move silently and without signal is reaching almost jounin level now. You should be capable of using the Silent Killing technique in combat now, though you won't have any mist helping you. But since I'm taking care of that during battles for now, it doesn't matter."

"The speed at which you've learned is incredible, Naruto-san. Your special training method must be very effective," Haku remarked.

"Of course. Anyways, let's get going then."

* * *

_**Konoha**_

"That's it for today. I'm off to do some more research!" Jiraiya said while walking towards a brand new peephole.

_He's perverted, but he sure knows a lot of stuff._

As Naruto jumped away towards Team 7's usual meeting spot, he reflected on his training in the past month.

As Jiraiya promised, he taught Naruto the method for training Earth chakra affinity, which to Naruto's surprise had nothing to do with trying to stay still. He had given Naruto a leaf and told him to use his chakra to make it hard enough that if he waved the leaf around, the leaf would not bend due to the force of the air. It had been several days of clone-enhanced training before Naruto had felt any difference in the leaf.

Strangely enough, this new Earth chakra actually felt _different_ from the "earth" chakra that he had felt before, from his own training. But it didn't really matter, so he paid it no attention. He had only completed the task the day before.

The affinity training wasn't over though, apparently, as there was another step before it was mastered. But when he tried to do the Stone Armor Jutsu earlier, it finally succeeded this time. Upon testing, he discovered that most thrown objects such as shuriken no longer had any effect on him, as they simply bounced off. It was still possible to cut or damage him with melee attacks, though the effect was significantly reduced. It would probably become even stronger as he used the technique more. What he loved most about the technique was that he only had to activate it once, and it would stay until he dispelled it or it was overcome by force.

Another major development during his training with Jiraiya was related to chakra control. He had discovered about a week after returning from the Wave mission that his chakra control was no longer improving. It appeared that his chakra control was so well developed that the basic three exercises could no longer improve it.

When he asked Jiraiya about what he could do to further develop his control, Jiraiya suggested that he try to expel chakra from various points around his body, increasing the number of points as he progressed, and then try to expel the chakra as far as possible. This proved far more difficult than the three basic exercises.

But the most important development of all was Naruto's sealing techniques training. Jiraiya had only started to teach him the basics of seals a few days ago, but it appeared that Naruto was a natural at it, grasping the concepts very quickly. This wasn't something that he could "train" with clones, so that was a huge relief for Naruto. The one thing that was possible to train regarding seals was the use of chakra to produce seals on demand and "imprinting" it on an object or opponent, rather than having to prepare it before hand. Jiraiya had shown Naruto this technique that he said seal masters used, but he hadn't taught Naruto any seal techniques yet. For now, Naruto could only practice with explosive seals, but this was already quite significant. Once he mastered it, it would be that much easier to deal with the Fourth Mizukage. There was also an insignificant but cool way to use it: he would be able to engrave markings or writing on objects with just his chakra, and leave messages that way.

_But still…I have to become Kage-level in about a year's time, if I want to actually defeat the Mizukage. Am I improving fast enough?_

As he neared the Training Ground Three, he saw his clone and two teammates waiting around. He snuck in with his new almost-jounin level sneakiness thanks to his Silent Killing training and performed a replacement Jutsu on his clone, before sending it away.

* * *

'Teamwork seems to be suffering lately…'Kakashi thought to himself, as Team 7 walked in the streets of Konoha, after completing another mission.

Sasuke was brooding as usual, while Naruto was unusually quiet. The date was June 29, after all, and Naruto had been growing anxious as of late. He didn't know how the chuunin exam nominations worked, and that was the root of his concern. He knew that chuunin exams generally happened twice a year, which meant that two days later, July 1, should be the start of the next chuunin exam. Yet, he had heard nothing from Kakashi, not even a mention of the exams.

_Did he actually not nominate us? If so…how can I get him to do so?_

"You're pretty quiet today, dead-last. Is your pea-sized brain thinking about something?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Yeah, about how you always try to make me look bad!" Naruto accused.

"If you don't want to look bad…then just get stronger than me," Sasuke answered.

"I already am," Naruto shot back.

"Yeah, right…" Sasuke said sarcastically. "You wouldn't last five minutes against me."

"You wouldn't last five _seconds_ against me," Naruto claimed.

"Hmpf!" The two turned their faces away from each other and crossed their arms.

'They're somehow worse than before…' Sakura thought gloomily. 'And Naruto always seems like he's thinking about something else, ever since the Wave mission.'

'Damn it. There are tons of guys stronger than me out there,' Sasuke thought while thinking of Haku. 'Yet I have to do these stupid missions.'

Kakashi then noticed a peculiar bird in the sky. He realized that it meant that he was being called to a meeting of jounin-sensei to nominate the teams for the chuunin exams.

"Ok, that's it for today. I have to go submit this mission report…" Kakashi told the team.

"Then I'm going home," Sasuke said as he walked off.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun, wait," Sakura called out.

Sasuke turned around and looked at her.

Sakura continued, "How about right now…we work on our teamwork, just the two of us…?"

Naruto's face crunched.

"If you have time to bother me, practice a Jutsu or two," Sasuke responded. "Frankly, your ability is below either me or Naruto." Then he walked off again.

Sakura looked down on the ground. 'He's right…In every mission, I do the least…'

Then Kakashi body flickered away.

_Huh…we're alone now._

"Forget about him. If you would like, we could train together, Sakura," Naruto said in a serious demeanor.

Without turning around, Sakura's face looked annoyed for a moment. Then she realized, 'Huh? He called me by just my name this time…'

Then just before she turned around to answer, Naruto noticed the moving rectangular prism behind him.

"Lose the box, Konohamaru. It looks nothing like a rock," Naruto said as he turned around to face the box with two eye holes in it.

Suddenly three kids came out from under the rock. They were Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi. They also happened to be wearing goggles that looked suspiciously like the goggles Naruto used to wear on his forehead.

"What's with the goggles?" Naruto asked.

"Heh! We're copying the old you!"

"Ah…"

"What do you mean by 'Ah…'! You're so cold lately, bro!" Konohamaru yelled while pointing at Naruto.

"So…what do you want?"

Then Moegi spoke up, "Um…boss, are you free?"

Naruto thought for a moment. It was still early in the day, and he could be training his muscles, which was a big priority. It had been a month since he started his own training regimen, complete with the Four Limbs Weighting Seal(1) that Jiraiya had provided him with. Well, not that the Weighting Seal was actually that big of a deal. Generally, most ninja could enhance speed and strength with chakra, which Naruto did easily thanks to his excellent chakra control. But there were two key advantages to building up muscle mass conventionally. The first was that this enhanced his general stamina, increasing the "physical" portion of his energy pool. It would also benefit him spiritually because intense exercise generally induces greater alertness and mental capability. This would result in a greater chakra reserve, which would have a multiplier effect on his training because he could then use his greater reserves to make more clones for training. The other advantage was related to sneakiness. The more chakra he used, the more easily detectable he would be to enemy ninja.

He thought back to the first technique Jiraiya taught him, on the day they met.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_Jiraiya did some hand seals slowly as Naruto memorized it and then promptly…disappeared. A few confused moments later, Naruto felt something touching his shoulder. Jiraiya reappeared in front of him, with his hand on Naruto's shoulder. _

"_This is called the Transparent Escape Juts and I invented it myself! With this, you can easily peep into the women's bathhouse without being noticed!"_

"_WHAT? I would never do that!" Naruto responded, his face outraged._

"_Be proud you're learning this technique, kid! This is a technique that only two kage-level ninjas in the world know: myself and the Third Hokage! And you're about to be the third," Jiraiya gloated._

"_Well…I guess it might be useful. And thank you for your confidence that I'll soon be the third _kage-level_ ninja to know this technique!" Naruto grinned._

* * *

When combined with the Silent Killing technique, it could be a deadly combination, even without the Hidden Mist technique. It would be even more useful if he could prevent the opponent from sensing any of his chakra.

But getting back to the issue at hand, Naruto realized that it really didn't matter. He could simply make a Shadow Clone to do whatever the trio asked of him.

"No, but I can be in two places at the same time, so it's fine," Naruto responded to Moegi's question. He then made a Shadow Clone.

"A clone? But that thing is just an illusion!" Konohamaru complained.

"Then, here's another lesson from your boss. Clones can be solid. And this one in particular, is actually intelligent too. He's identical to me in every way," Naruto explained.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Konohamaru said with stars in his eyes. "Alright! Let's play ninja then!"

"…Why would a ninja…play ninja…?" Sakura said with a dark expression.

The three Academy students turned to look at her.

"Hey, bro, who's this girl?" Konohamaru asked while pointing at Sakura. 'She's staring at bro like she wants to eat him alive…'

Then a light bulb went off his head. "Not bad, bro…She's your…This," Konohamaru said while showing his pinky finger, a gesture that indicated "girlfriend". Sakura's expression went from shock to anger.

"Not quite, but close. She's a valuable teammate and a full-fledged ninja, unlike you three," Naruto responded carefully, trying to skillfully defuse the situation with a subtle compliment. Unfortunately, Sakura was too caught up with the previous remark by Konohamaru to pay close attention.

"How dare you!" Sakura exclaimed while punching one of the two Narutos currently present. It flew into a nearby fence, before bursting into smoke.

"Bro! No, boss, don't die! " Konohamaru yelled, as he tried to run forward to help.

"Calm down…it's just a clone," Naruto said from beside Konohamaru, just as he grabbed his scarf, preventing him from running forward.

"You ugly bitch!" Konohamaru said while facing Sakura.

Sakura fumed while Inner Sakura raged. 'Stupid kid…!'

She charged at Konohamaru and hit him on the head before walking off angrily.

"Damn, it…that ugly huge foreheaded…is that really a girl? Seriously, bro?"

Sakura heard this and turned around, charging at the Naruto and Konohamaru's group.

"AHH!" The three kids screamed

Naruto body flickered away while the three Academy students ran for their lives. Having unintentionally closed his eyes from being scared, Konohamaru bumped into something.

"Ouch!"

"That hurts…" said a guy with a black, baggy, full-body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He carried some sort of _thing_ wrapped in bandages on his back, only showing some…hair? His forehead protector was the symbol of an hourglass. Beside him stood a blond girl who carried what appeared to be a giant fan on her back. Her hair was gathered into four ponytails, and she wore her headband around her neck, also showing the sand hourglass symbol.

"That hurt you little piece of shit!" the fully-suited guy said while grabbing Konohamaru up by his scarf, in the same manner one would normally grab somebody's shirt under the collar area, if there hadn't been a scarf there.

"Don't, we'll get yelled at later," the blonde girl warned.

"I'm sorry, I was just messing around…" Sakura said in a small voice while looking down at the ground. 'Who are these people?'

The guy in the black body-suit noticed her and the headband on her head. 'Hm…looks like a leaf genin.'

"Let's play a little before the boss comes," the guy said while shaking Konohamaru.

"Konohamaru-chan!" Moegi yelled. "Konohamaru-kun!" Udon yelled.

"Let…go of me!" Konohamaru said and grit his teeth.

"How annoying. Basically, I hate midgets…Especially younger ones that are rude…makes me want to kill them."

'Wha…?' Sakura thought with a shocked face.

"Oh well…I'm not involved…" the girl with four pony tails muttered.

'What's with that guy…? This is bad…These are foreign ninjas, judging by their headbands,' Sakura thought.

Then the guy pulled his left arm back and prepared to punch Konohamaru. Suddenly a rock hit his arm, and he dropped Konohamaru. He looked up to see another leaf ninja sitting on a tree, throwing up and down another rock.

"What are you bastards doing in our village?" Sasuke demanded.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted.

The guy with the body suit gave him a dark look. The blonde girl thought he was pretty handsome, and blushed.

"Another guy who pisses me off…" muttered the guy while adjusting his gloves. Konohamaru ran back to Moegi and Udon.

"Get lost!" Sasuke told him.

"Kya! So cool! Get him, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said with hearts in her eyes.

"Hey, punk, get down here! I hate show-offs like you the most," the guy in the black body suit said while pulling the thing from his back.

"Hey, you even going to use Karasu?" The girl asked from behind him.

"So…is this supposed to be a declaration of war from Suna?" A voice asked from nowhere.

'What the hell? Did they find out?' thought the two ninja from the Hidden Sand.

Suddenly Naruto appeared from thin air holding a kunai to the antagonizing ninja's throat. All onlookers were shocked.

"You dare to attack Konohamaru, the grandson of the ruling Hokage, in his own village? If this isn't a declaration of war…I might kill you anyways for this assassination attempt," Naruto threatened while releasing as much Killing Intent as he could muster, which really wasn't much, as he hadn't practice that.

"Way to go boss! I knew you had my back!" Konohamaru yelled with stars in his eyes again. 'So cool…'

'Wow…even Naruto can be cool when he's serious...but I couldn't do anything…Can I even call myself a ninja?' Sakura thought, ashamed of herself. Then she remembered what Naruto said of her earlier. 'He called me valuable teammate…and a full-fledged ninja…does he…really think so?'

'What the hell? When did he learn that technique? And…that was jounin-level sneakiness! I didn't sense him at all until he appeared!' Sasuke thought angrily.

"Kankuro…stop it. You're an embarrassment to our village," said a voice from behind Sasuke. Everybody turned to see another ninja standing upside down on a branch of the tree Sasuke was sitting on. The newcomer had some sort of character marked on his forehead, and carried a huge gourd on his back.

'What? When did he— jounin-level sneakiness again…' Sasuke thought.

"Losing yourself in a fight, how pathetic…Why do you think we came to the Leaf Village?" the upside down ninja asked in a low and dangerous voice.

"Listen Gaara, they started it and…" Kankuro tried to explain.

"Shut up… I'll kill you."

"O-Ok, I'm sorry…" Kankuro apologized while holding up his hands.

"I'm also sorry…really sorry…" the girl said beside him.

'So he's this group's leader…he has strange eyes,' Sasuke thought.

Naruto put his kunai back into his weapons pouch.

_These two seem really scared of that guy…_

"Sorry to you guys," Gaara said while looking at Sasuke, 'To be able to hit Kankuro with a stone…he's good…', before looking at Naruto, 'and this one…he could've killed Kankuro if he wanted to…mother will enjoy his blood…' Then a flurry of sand engulfed him and he reappeared beside Kankuro, the blonde girl, and Naruto. "It looks like we got here too early, but…we didn't come here to play around."

"I-I know that," Kankuro spluttered.

"Let's go," he said before turning around.

"Hey, wait!" Sakura shouted.

"What?"

"Judging from your forehead protectors, you guys are ninjas from the hidden sand village, right? You may be allies with the Leaf, but it is forbidden for shinobis to enter each other's villages without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go," Sakura explained.

"Hah, talk about clueless…don't you know anything? See my pass?" The blonde girl responded with a smirk. "You're right, we are genins from the Hidden Sand. We have come to your village to take the Chuunin Selection exam."

_So I was right! It _IS_ starting soon…Damn it Kakashi, you'd better have entered us into the exams!_

Then Sasuke reappeared in a burst of speed beside Naruto. "Hey, you, what's your name?"

"Huh? You mean me?" The blonde girl responded with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"No. You with the gourd." The blonde girl looked miffed.

"…Gaara of the Desert," came the reply. "I'm also interested in you, your name?"

"It's Uchiha Sasuke…" Sasuke answered with a slight smirk.

"And you, with the spiky hair. Your name?" Gaara furthered asked.

"It's Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of this village. Remember it well, Gaara," Naruto answered with a grin.

Gaara nodded, before saying, "Let's go." Then the three sand ninjas body flickered away.

'Heh, this is getting interesting…' Sasuke thought.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" asked a ninja who wore a headband with a musical note as the symbol. His shirt had the character for death written on it. He was one of three ninjas, all wearing the same headband, who had been observing the proceedings earlier with the Sand and Leaf genins from a nearby tree. Two of them were male, and one was female.

The one with bandages wrapped around his face, who was also the only one sitting on the tree branch the other two were standing on, replied, "Well…nothing serious…but, that black-haired leaf, the yellow-haired leaf, and the sand with the gourd…let's keep our eyes on them."

"You sound pretty confident," said a voice from above them. They recognized it as the voice of the yellow-haired leaf nin from earlier. They looked up to see said leaf nin standing sideways on the tree. "What village are you from? I don't recognize that symbol. Is it a new village?" Naruto had never seen the musical note as a symbol anywhere before, and he was pretty sure he memorized the symbols of every village. He had detected them earlier, probably thanks to his training with Silent Killing that allowed him to feel such presences with only slight movements.

"…Sound. We might be new, but we're not weak. So, we'll see you in the exams then then?" the bandaged one asked.

"Hmm…maybe. I'm only a rookie, so who knows?" Naruto said before poofing into smoke.

The three Sound ninja looked surprised. If this was a rookie of Konoha…then what were their experienced genin capable of?

* * *

"Sorry, Konohamaru. Looks like I'm going to be busy in the next little while, so I won't be able to play with you. Later." Then Naruto body flickered away.

Sasuke walked off on his own, while Konohamaru grumbled as he walked away with his group. Sakura stayed a while and wasn't sure what to do. She thought about the genin that she had just seen, 'They're's so strong…the chuunin exams sure are scary…' She wondered if Team 7 would also be entered into the exams, but decided it was unlikely since they hadn't even heard about it. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly Naruto reappeared again in a flurry of leaves.

"Oh hey, Sakura. Sorry, I just remembered that I offered to train with you earlier. So, how about it?" Naruto had just ordered his training clones to stop training for the day and scout out other foreign genin in the village. He himself had waited nearby until Sakura was alone again.

Sakura looked a little surprised to see Naruto again. "Um…" Earlier, she would've flatly refused. But now…it seemed like Sasuke was right when he said she was weaker than either of them. Still, she hesitated.

"You know, the chuunin exams will probably be in two days. Knowing Kakashi, he'll probably nominate us without warning and expect us to show up the next day not knowing anything. If I'm right, then this will be one of our last chances to do some serious training. Judging from the Sand genin, the exam is probably a team exam with 3-person cells. And out teamwork hasn't been very good lately…" Naruto elaborated.

"That…makes sense. Ok, I guess I could train with you today…" Sakura agreed. She was surprised at the level of strategic planning Naruto seemed to show just now.

"Alright, then, give me your hand."

"What? Is this something perverted! Because if it is, I'll—"

"No, no! We can get to a training ground faster if I use Body Flicker. Unless you know that Jutsu already?" Naruto defended.

"Huh? Okay then…" Sakura held out her hand, eyeing Naruto suspiciously.

* * *

They two teammates were back in Training Ground Three.

"Well, since there's only two days, there's no real point in training taijutsu. So if we're training teamwork, we should come up with ways to use our specialized Jutsu in combinations. Speaking of which, I've never seen you use any before. Do you have any?" Naruto started.

Sakura looked uncomfortable. She replied, "No…I don't come from a clan, so I don't have any way to learn anything special. All I know are the Academy Jutus."

So they had hit a roadblock. Naruto empathized with her. After all, he found himself in the same situation, as he too had no clan (that was alive and known to him, anyways). At least Sasuke would probably have inherited scrolls and possibly received training before the massacre happened. It was intriguing, actually; out of the three teams he knew had passed the genin exams from his class, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were the only clanless ones, and they had been put on the same team. Maybe somebody who had the power to make decisions thought that Kakashi would know more than enough techniques to teach them what with his status as having copied over a thousand Jutsu, but unfortunately, it seemed to Naruto that Kakashi was too lazy to teach them any. Or was it actually laziness? It's also possible that Jounin were not supposed to teach a lot of Jutsu in the first place. It's not like he'd heard that Shikamaru or Chouji had learned a lot of Jutsu…well, he might found out during the Chuunin exams, if anybody showed any Jutsu that were uncharacteristic of their clan-

"Uh..Naruto?" Sakura tore him out of his rapidly becoming irrelevant thoughts. But suddenly an old memory surfaced.

"Huh, sorry, I was just thinking about something. Anyways, it looks like we have a problem. But you're smart and amazing with chakra control, right? So it should be easy for you to learn genjutsu. From what I heard, genjutsu techniques are mostly self-made, according to the situation. I know most ninja techniques are restricted from access for those below Chuunin level. But I remember finding a book in the civilian library on how to perform very short and safe genjutsu, that was perfect for those with no ninja training and had miniscule chakra reserves."

"You're talking about 'Illusory Gifts', right? I read that too. But I never knew you went to the library."

"Heh, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, right? Don't tell anyone…but…I've actually memorized every book in the library. Well, excluding any they might've added in the last month." This was only partially true. He had gone through plenty of books as a child with nothing better to do because he mastered everything that was taught to him too quickly. With his clones, he had managed to go through the rest of the library. But the key word was "go through", because for those books whose content was clearly useless, like most fiction, he simply memorized the title, summary, and author, before skimming the book without memorizing that content. He _did_ memorize information books, such as the ones on medicinal and edible herbs.

"What! You're lying!" Sakura accused. Inner Sakura mused, 'And I thought we were a book worm!'

"No, but that's not important. You said you read Illusory Gifts, right? Did you try practicing those jutsu?" Naruto got back on-topic.

"Actually…I did. But those are useless, they only last for less than ten seconds at most, and I have to concentrate hard on them so I can't fight while I'm doing them."

Naruto smirked. "That's good enough. Have you forgotten? Teamwork means I will do the attacking while you concentrate."

"Oh yeah…" Sakura's face lit up as understanding came to her.

"Hey, why don't you try practicing your genjutsu on me? I need to practice dispelling genjutsu as well. This will also let me get familiar with the timing."

"Okay!" Sakura said enthusiastically.

* * *

After several hours, Sakura had exhausted her reserve of chakra and could no longer train. Thus, she and Naruto sat against one of the three training posts at the training ground, one person on each side.

Naruto was pleased with himself. With his new chakra control, he had been able to dispel Sakura's genjutsu easily using the Release technique. An interesting phenomenon he had discovered was that Shadow Clones already present at the time of the genjutsu would not be affected by the genjutsu, but those that were made during the genjutsu would be. Those that were already present could even perform the Genjutsu Release technique on Naruto himself, which was also interesting.

"Naruto…" Sakura's voice reached him.

"What is it?"

"You…you were so serious today. And, ever since the Wave mission, you stopped smiling as much."

"Did I? Well I don't know about that, but I was serious today because we needed to be," Naruto answered. He was surprised though, because he thought he had acted the same since the Wave mission with the exclusion of today. Although, recently he had a lot more to think about than before, so that might've been it.

"I didn't know you _could_ be serious."

"You'll be seeing this lot more after we enter the chuunin exams," Naruto answered. It was true, he had planned that. It was also why he decided to drop his usual mask today. It's not like two days would make any difference, and she was her teammate, after all. It would be bad if he suddenly became a different person during the most crucial time of the exams. Thus, there was definitely a legitimate reason for him to be training with Sakura today, and it was most definitely not simply his hormones thinking. At least, this is what he hoped.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked, confused.

Naruto stood up and turned towards the Hokage Monument in the distance.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. You're my teammate, so I should've stopped that act after we became a team. But I guess…after being alone for so long…after I found out an S-class secret about myself…I wasn't ready to trust anybody yet, even then. It's the fundamental rule of the ninja world, right? Deception," Naruto explained.

"What? What are you talking about? An S-class secret?" Sakura asked in succession. She was even more confused.

"I can't tell you just yet. Maybe I will, someday. And don't try to ask around, either, you might be executed if you found out from somebody who's not supposed to tell you, along with that person. And as for what I'm talking about…" He turned and faced Sakura, staring at her eyes. "I mean that all those years in the Academy…they were just a lie. I only acted like an idiot, attracting attention to myself, in order to _divert_ attention from my skills."

"A-a lie?" Sakura was in disbelief. But this Naruto seemed so radically different that she couldn't but feel there may have been a sliver of truth there. "But, why? I mean, how could you stand acting for so many years as a different person?"

"There was another reason for it as well. Traditionally, the top male and female ninja are teamed up with the dead-last, as genins. To ensure that I would get a strong team, I made sure that I came dead-last. But it wouldn't make sense to just do horribly on the graduation exam and never before. That would be too suspicious, and somebody with the power to do so might mess with the teams if they noticed. So, I had to act that way all the way through." He didn't actually know whether it was true that the top male and female ninjas are paired with the dead-last. But, it had certainly turned out that way, hadn't it? So, there wouldn't be any reason for Sakura not to believe him.

There was a moment of silence and Sakura absorbed the information.

Sakura's thoughts went back to Sasuke's comment that had been bothering her all day. If this was true, then what about all the other ninjas in the Academy? She had never thought the blonde, loud-mouthed idiot could be anything else. If so, then how much were her other classmates hiding? She realized how little she knew about any of them, except maybe Ino. Was she the only one that had never hid anything? Was she the only one that was truly weak and pathetic? And what about Ino? Could their rivalry be fake as well? Maybe…maybe it was all just a front to distract Sakura from being focused on her studies…

Then Sakura spoke up again. "If what you're saying is true…then…you're telling me all this now because I'm useless, right? I'm so weak that I'm not threat to you, even if I knew, right?"

Naruto looked surprised for a moment. Then he smiled. "Don't be stupid, Sakura. That's not why I'm telling you. If that were the case, and I only wanted to prevent strong guys from knowing about my skills, then I wouldn't have bothered hiding my skills from everybody, except maybe Sasuke and Shikamaru."

Sakura was curious as to why Naruto chose to name those two as being the only ones who weren't weak. Sasuke-kun she could understand, but Shikamaru? That guy was just barely better than the dead-last—

Naruto continued, "and you're not weak either, Sakura. You just didn't have the opportunity to become strong, unlike those who came from respected clans. I'm sure you would be very powerful now if you had come from a powerful clan. But sometimes, when there's nobody to teach us and nothing to learn, we can't help but focus on what we have. And you were able to do the best of the class, academically. You should think yourself better than the rest who were too arrogant to see that knowledge is power, especially in the world of ninja." This was probably somewhat exaggerated. Unless they had incredible ability, it would have been a tremendously difficult task to both excel in the academic portion of the Academy _and_ the physical/Jutsu portion. And if you had powerful clan Jutsu to learn, why would you waste time studying knowledge that everybody would have when you could be getting stronger with unique Jutsu? But of course, unless Sakura figured that out herself, it would be better to tell her what Naruto just told her, as that would boost her confidence and probably also her willingness to learn Jutsu. It was a psychology technique Naruto had learned from books: provide a reason for somebody's failures that makes them appear good and that they failed only as a result of external, uncontrollable, circumstances, and they would be likely actually believe it and try to follow through on it. It was called…self-serving bias(2), he noted.

Those words were spoken with a deep passion. To Sakura, these words felt like wisdom that could only be acquired after many years of experience. The level of intelligence and analytical thinking Naruto was showing now, it was completed unexpected.

Naruto then turned again to look at the Hokage Monument. Sakura followed his gaze.

"Real strength though…that comes from our will. I believe that today, Konoha is the strongest village in the Elemental Nations because of our philosophy. Real strength is when you look to the future…when your Will of Fire fuels your quest to achieve your dream and create a better tomorrow." He paused for a moment for dramatic effect. He was actually surprised Sakura had listened to him rant on for so long. He turned back to face her. "And that's the real reason I chose to confide in you today…My dream, to become Hokage…it demands that I do this now."

"What do you mean?"

"There will be spectators during the exams, at some point, including the Hokage and foreign Kages, and various high-ranking ninja. This is precisely the time that I have to stop acting like a fool, and show my worth as a ninja," Naruto explained. He noticed that the sun was going down. "It's getting late, we should go home."

Sakura then also noticed the sun going down. "Yeah…you're right." She got up.

"Wait, before you go…" Naruto started. "Not everything that happened in the Academy was a lie…I wasn't lying when I said I liked you."

Sakura found that she suddenly couldn't look away from his cerulean eyes. This serious side of Naruto…it was kind of…cool. "I…I-I'm still not going to go on a date with you!" she got out, while finally looking away. "About the exam…you think we'll be able to enter?"

"Of course. I'll burn Kakashi-sensei's book if he doesn't enter us," Naruto claimed.

"He's a jounin…there's no way you could get your hands on that book," Sakura reminded. Meanwhile, Inner Sakura was thinking, 'We should burn that book even if he does enter us! He deserves it for reading something so perverted around us! Shannaro!'

* * *

The next day, Kakashi showed up three hours late as usual.

"Morning people! Today, I got lost on the road of life."

"You used that excuse before!" Sakura exclaimed, exasperated that she'd been forced to wait like this every day.

"Well, anyway…This is sudden, but…I've nominated you guys for the chuunin selection exam." Then he pulled out three rectangular pieces of paper. "Here are your application forms."

_Finally…I was getting scared for a while._

"Sudden is right. You should've at least told us about it long ago," Naruto commented.

"Though this is just a nomination. Whether the take the exam is up to each of you."

_What? I thought for sure it was a team effort—Oh._

Naruto realized what Kakashi meant to do: he didn't want anybody on the team to pressure anybody else into competing. Then Kakashi handed the forms to each of them.

"Those who wish to take it should sign those and return it to Room 301 by 4pm tomorrow. That is all." He body flickered away.

The three genin walked away, having been dismissed.

* * *

The next day, Naruto met with Sakura and Sasuke right outside the building they were supposed to return the forms to. The other two had already arrived.

They both noticed Naruto approaching at the same time.

"..!"

"You have a new outfit…" Sakura remarked in a surprised tone. Sasuke didn't say anything, but he had an eyebrow raised.

Naruto had shown up in a full cloak without any sleeves. It was a dark orange with black flames stemming from the top and bottom. On the front, the black flames swirled to form a circle, which showed the character for "Will". On the back it was the same swirl and circle design, but with the Uzumaki clan symbol of the red spiral. As Naruto walked towards them, it wasn't possible to see what he wore under the cloak, but it was a black jacket—which again had the character for "Will" on the front and the Uzumaki clan spiral on the back—with the standard blue pants that Konoha ninja wore. By covering up completely with a cloak, Naruto would be able to do hand seals without an opponent seeing them, thus giving him the element of surprise all the time.

As he walked by them and glanced at each of them with a slight smirk, he only said, "Let's go."

* * *

(1) Four Limbs Weighting Seal – This is a game-only Jutsu from Ultimate Ninja 4. I know the whole gravity seal thing is overdone in fanon, but at least I have a legitimate almost-canon source for this. He will not become ridiculously taijutsu capable like Lee is with just this seal though. He's still going to use chakra-enhancement for higher speeds and strength.

(2) Self-Serving Bias – This is a concept that was only developed in modern behavioral psychology. But the world of Naruto has frequently been shown to include advanced research into the sciences and some modern things (like people wearing modern business suits, for example…and also the research into cellular biology, DNA, etc.). And, Naruto would be able to know this because it's a very simple concept you can understand by looking it up on Wikipedia (to prove that it's simple, I'll just say that I'm no psychologist, yet I understand it well enough, even though it's not quite the exact same thing in the explanation provided by the narrator speaking from the perspective of Naruto).

**A/N: **Well, there you have it. Naruto's true self is making its appearance to the public. What did you think of the character interaction? Was there too much development in comparison to the plot? But I figure this was a good opportunity to reveal Naruto's ambitions and core beliefs. Thus far, you've only seen the goals he claimed while under a mask, but now the stuff he's saying this time are actually serious.

Also, just to clarify, unless it's written that it's Inner Sakura thinking, any thoughts that Sakura has are simply her own, not Inner Sakura's. Furthermore, the training scene does not constitute the beginning of a pairing either. This is a Naruto-centric fic, so there will probably be no pairing until an epilogue, which I might not even include. But, some of the things I pointed out, or rather, Naruto pointed out, about Sakura's apparent weakness…it's more or less true under the premise of this story, which was explained in chapter 1, that stuff about why Naruto was "weak" even though he was driven and had intelligence on the level of Shikamaru. Sakura wasn't quite as driven as Naruto, nor as smart, but nonetheless the same obstacles applied.

The stuff about the book, 'Illusory Gifts', is just stuff I made up to explain how it was discovered that she apparently has a natural affinity for genjutsu in canon even though we don't see her doing any genjutsu except the "Genjutsu Release" technique.

Naruto's new outfit is a sort of mix between the cloak he wore as a sage and the cloak he wore during the Sasuke-chasing mission when they met Madara and Itachi got killed. The difference is the symbols on it.


	11. The Chuunin Exam Begins

_**Konoha, Chuunin Exam Registration Building**_

Team 7 saw a many genin gathered around the door which had the sign that said "301". They also noticed that two ninjas were blocking everyone else off, and there was a couple of ninja they were bullying. Of the ones being bullied, one was wearing a full green spandex body suit, and the other was a girl wearing traditional kung fu style clothing. The two ninja blocking the way were saying something about getting rid of those who would fail anyways.

_This is only the second floor though, that sign must be a genjutsu…still, there's nowhere to go, so we have to make them get rid of the genjutsu, which means we'll be forced to show some skill._

As Naruto was thinking about how to reveal as little as possible, Sasuke stepped toward the scene.

"I agree…but you will let me pass, and also remove this surrounding created with genjutsu. I'm going to the third floor," he stated.

"Ah…so you noticed," one of the bullies said.

"Stop stalling and get out of the way," Naruto told them in an annoyed tone as he walked towards them with Sakura, joining Sasuke.

What followed was a curious series of events, in which one of the bullies attacked Sasuke, and was stopped by the earlier spandex wearing ninja in a sudden burst of speed. Afterwards, he tried to ask Sakura out on a date, which was of course refused. Then somebody with almost no visible pupil tried to ask Sasuke for his name, which he also refused by claiming that the other was impolite.

A few moments of walking later, the three genin of Team 7 were alone when they heard a voice from above. It was the earlier genin that stopped Sasuke and the bully's kicks. He jumped down.

"Hey, guy with the dark eyes. Will you, fight me here?"

"A fight right here?" Sasuke asked.

"My name is Rock Lee. When you want to learn a person's name, you should introduce yourself first, right? Uchiha Sasuke…I want to fight you. I want to test my techniques, against an offspring of the genius ninja clan." Rock Lee explained. "Plus…" Then he winked at Sakura. This was met by a response of "Eww! Those eyelashes are ew! Hairstyle is lame, and those thick eyebrows…", which was followed by Lee sending a long-range kiss towards Sakura, which she dodged.

"Challenging the Uchiha name…Frankly, you're a fool. You're about to learn what this name means."

"Please," Lee shot back.

"Wait, Sasuke," Naruto interrupted. "We don't know what the exam is going to be about. We should conserve for strength. You might be able to fight this guy then, during the exams."

"Strategy from you, dead-last? Yeah right…"

"Tch, fine then. Do what you want. But if it gets out of hand…" Naruto warned without specifying what he would do. "Let's stay out of the way then, Sakura." He used his head to motion towards the side. Sakura hesitated, looking at Sasuke, before nodding at Naruto and followed. Underneath his cloak, Naruto formed some handsigns.

"I'll say this…you cannot defeat me…because, right now, I am the strongest Leaf genin," Lee stated boldly.

"Sounds fun…let's do it," Sasuke responded.

Sasuke charged at Lee. Lee moved with astonishing speed. "Leaf Whirlwind!" He tried to hit Sasuke with his arm but was avoided, but his spin continued and his legs came towards Sasuke, who was unable to dodge in time and could only block with his arm. Yet, the instant Sasuke tried to block, Lee's kick disappeared and Sasuke felt something hit his face, causing him to fly backwards.

'What's going on?' he wondered. Both Sakura and Naruto also were surprised. It had looked like Sasuke blocked the attack. To counter this unknown technique, Sasuke decided to use his Sharingan.

Sakura noticed it and thought to herself that Sasuke would be able to read thickbrow's moves with it.

Sasuke charged at Lee again, thinking that his Sharingan would reveal the trick behind Lee's attack. All of a sudden, he was kicked up by the chin into the air. Sasuke was shocked as he couldn't read the attack.

"Yes…my techniques are neither ninjutsu or genjutsu," Lee said before disappearing again and reappearing below Sasuke, his body like a shadow. "Shadow Leaf Dance."

Lee proceeded to explain that his moves were merely taijutsu, and that Sasuke was too slow to respond to them, even if he could read them. He further began a spiel on strong people, that there were geniuses and hardworkers, and that he would prove hard work surpasses genius with his next technique. The bandages on his arms started to unravel.

_Those bandages, he's going to bind Sasuke to him! Which means…_

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed. Then another Naruto appeared below Lee and pulled on his long bandage, along with Lee, downwards and threw him.

"…!"

Lee was preparing to respond when suddenly there was a puff of smoke on the ground and a turtle appeared. "Lee!" At the same time, Lee's bandage was suddenly pinned to the wall by a shuriken. He flipped over and landed on the ground, while the Naruto-clone caught the falling Sasuke before poofing away. Sasuke was notably shaken up.

"Lee! That technique is forbidden!" the turtle yelled.

_A turtle summons? Who does it belong to?_

"But, I wasn't planning on using the other one…"

What happened next involved a rather unpleasant scene that Naruto did not want to see or remember, in which a man who looked like an older version of Lee appeared, starting talking about youth, and told Lee off before hugging him. Apparently the man was his sensei, and was Kakashi's rival, and the score between the two jounin was 50-49 in this "Gai-sensei"'s favor.

* * *

_**Konoha, Room 301**_

"Sasuke-kun! I haven't seen you in a while so I've been waiting in excitement," Ino Yamanaka said while latching onto Sasuke's neck. Sakura was furious and told her to get off.

"You guys are taking this stupid test too? Don't die…" Shikamaru said as he approached, along with Chouji.

"Hey, Shika, Chouji. Same goes for you," Naruto said, walking towards them.

Shikamaru noticed his new outfit. "So…you're serious about this exam, huh? The new outfit suits you."

"Well, well. Everyone is assembled." The genin turned to see Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame walking towards them. Kiba proceeded to taunt Sasuke by saying they did a lot of training and wouldn't lose.

"So did we. Not only will we not lose to _you_, we won't lose to anybody here," Naruto responded.

"Eh?" Kiba started walking around Naruto, eyeing his new cloak. "So you got a new outfit, huh? You think that'll be enough to win? And what's with that symbol on your back? With the way you're wearing it, people would think it's a clan symbol," Kiba said mockingly.

"That's because…it is a clan symbol, of the Uzumaki clan," Naruto responded, his expression unchanging from the moment he stepped into the room.

"Uzumaki clan? Then why haven't I heard of it before? Aren't you supposed to be a no-name orphan? Don't make stuff up, trying to act cool and different from before," Kiba rolled his eyes.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "You haven't heard of it…because they're all dead. I'm the only one left."

"…!"

Sasuke stared at Naruto intensely. "…dead?" The atmosphere was suddenly tense, and the rookies paid close attention.

"That's right…they were all killed, every last one of them," Naruto said as he stared back at Sasuke with equal intensity.

"What are you talking about? If this is some joke…"

"It's not. The Uzumaki clan was once a powerful and feared clan who ruled the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides, in Whirlpool country. They were masters at sealing Jutsu, but eventually they were all killed, and the village destroyed. Before they were destroyed, they were allies of the hidden Leaf. This same symbol appears on the shoulders of the standard Konoha ninja uniform, to signal our long lasting alliance and relationship," Naruto elaborated.

Sasuke was quiet for a moment. "And you? According to what you're saying, you should be a part of the Whirling Tides! So why are you here?"

"I don't know. Everything happened before I was born. I don't even know who my parents were. All I know…is that the Uzumaki's sealing techniques were so powerful that the fear of them led to the village's destruction."

"…Why haven't I heard of any of this before?" Sasuke questioned, seemingly angered. It was an odd feeling. He knew before that Naruto had suffered from being alone, just like he did…but now, it seemed that they had even more in common.

"You, out of everybody here, should be the one that knows of this, or at least have heard of the Uzumaki clan," Naruto claimed.

"What?"

"It's a part of your own clan history, after all," Naruto further outrageously stated.

"Wh-what the hell!" Sasuke's sharingan eyes unconsciously appeared.

"It's also a part of the story of how Konoha was founded…" Naruto continued. "Originally, there were two founding clans, the Senju and the Uchiha. That you should know at least. After Hashirama Senju became the first Hokage, for whatever reason, the leader of the Uchiha clan, Madara Uchiha left the village and came back to attack it. At the valley of the end…the First Hokage fought with Madara. During this battle, Madara Uchiha summoned the Nine-Tailed Fox."

"The Nine-tails?" Shikamaru asked with a shocked expression.

"That's right…but the First still managed to win the battle, in the end. He had help."

"…"

Naruto, seeing that he had the rookies' full attention, lowered his voice. "He had the help of his wife, Mito Uzumaki, who sealed the Nine-Tails into herself."

"This…this isn't in the history books…" Sakura said after a moment of silence. The rest of the rookies were too surprised at the information to say anything.

"You…you're telling the truth," Sasuke said quietly. He could feel it. "So you're clan's dead like mine, huh?"

Naruto didn't answer. After a long silence, Kiba spoke very loudly, "Hey guys, why are we talking about this anyway? This is the chuunin exams! We can talk about that stuff later!"

…_You're the one that started this conversation by asking me about the symbol… _

"Hey you guys, you should be more quiet." A older leaf genin with glasses approached. "You guys are rookies, right? So loud…geez. This isn't a picnic."

"Who do you think you are?" Ino demanded.

"I'm Kabuto. But instead of that, look behind you." The rookies turned around to see many other genins looking at them dangerously, and a particular group glaring hard at them. "Those guys are from the Hidden Rain, they have short tempers. Everyone is nervous, so calm down before you make a scene. Well…I can't blame you, you're rookies, like how I used to be."

"Kabuto-san…so this is you're second time?" Sakura asked.

"Nope, this is my seventh time."

"Wow, so you know a lot about this exam," Sakura noted.

"That's right. Then…I'll share some info with you cute rookies." He took out a deck of cards. "…with these nin-info cards."

"Nin-info cards?" Sakura asked.

"I have four years' worth of information here, and over 200 cards. They look blank, but only when I use my chakra…" A graph appeared. "This is the number of those taking the exam and the breakdown of where they're from."

"Do you have cards with info on individuals?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course…it's not perfect for this year's participants, but I do have it, even of you guys. Say something about these guys and I'll have a look."

"Gaara of the hidden Sand and Rock Lee from Leaf," Sasuke responded without missing a beat.

"Oh, you already know their names, should be easy then. Rock Lee…is a year older than you guys. Mission history: 20 D-rank completed, 12 C-rank. His sensei is Gai. His taijutsu have improved greatly in this year. The rest is nothing impressive. Last year he gained attention as a talented new genin but did not participate in the exam. Like you guys, this is his first time. On his team are Neji Hyuuga and Tenten." He held up another card. "Next is Gaara of the Desert. Mission history: 8 C-rank, 1 B-rank. Wow…a B-rank as a genin. Since he's a newcomer from a foreign country, I don't have much info but…It seems he returned from all of his missions without even a scratch."

_What detailed information…this guy must be amazing at reconnaissance._

Kabuto began putting the cards away.

"Hold on," Naruto stopped him. "Neji Hyuuga…that's the guy on Rock Lee's team, right? What info do you have on him?" Before they left after the battle earlier, Rock Lee had told them that he had lied about being the strongest leaf genin, and that the strongest was actually somebody else on his team. When you also considered Rock Lee's strange passion of trying to prove that hard work was superior to genius, it was easy to put together two and two; Neji Hyuuga must have been a genius, and one to keep an eye on. Plus, Naruto was curious as to how powerful the Byakugan was, because he remembered that the Byakugan user in his class, Hinata Hyuuga, and also one of the rookies, wasn't particularly strong.

"…!" Hinata made an "eep" noise before whispering, "…nii-san?"

Naruto turned toward the noise, as he had heard it. "Hinata, is he your brother?"

"Eh? N-no…he's my c-cousin," she stammered with a blush on her cheeks while pointing her forefingers together as Naruto looked at her.

_Man, shouldn't somebody with a bloodline limit be all haughty and stuff, not shy? I never understood what was wrong with her…_

"Oh, ok. So, Kabuto-san, what info can you give us?" Naruto asked again.

"Alright…well, his mission history is the same as Lee's, since they're on the same team. Apparently, he graduated the top of his class from the Academy, and is known as the prodigy of the Hyuuga clan, already a master of the Gentle Fist style of taijutsu."

_As I thought…If he's even stronger than that Rock Lee guy, he'll be a serious threat._

'Naruto…he's really taking this seriously, I never would've thought the old Naruto would even ask something like this…' Sakura thought.

'So he wasn't bluffing, that Rock Lee. His teammate must be pretty strong…there are so many strong guys here…how fun,' Sasuke thought.

"Is that all?" Kabuto asked. Seeing no response, he put away his cards. "Leaf, Sand, Grass, Waterfall, Sound, Rain…many outstanding genins from the various villages are here to take the exam. Well, the hidden Sound is just a small village created last year, so there isn't much info but…the rest of the hidden villages are filled with talented youngsters."

"M-makes you lose your confidence…" Hinata commented in a small voice.

"So basically, all the people here are…" Sakura began.

"Yup! Like Lee and Gaara and Neji, they are the top elite genins from the various countries," Kabuto finished.

Just then, a genin jumped up from the crowd and threw two kunai at Kabuto. He dodged them by sliding back. Another one came forth and punched at Kabuto, who avoided it by moving his head back.

'Good speed,' Sasuke thought of Kabuto's dodge.

But then, Kabuto's glasses cracked.

Sasuke looked confused at what happened. "What's going on? He dodged it, so why did his glasses…"

Behind him, Shikamaru answered, "It probably glanced by his nose, that's what you get for acting like a big shot."

Then Kabuto retched on the ground.

"Kabuto-san!" Sakura exclaimed. Naruto was also visibly shocked, as it should have been a complete dodge.

Naruto recognized the attackers as the Sound genin he had met before. "You guys…" he started.

"You know them?" Sakura asked.

"They were spying on us when we met the guys from Sand," Naruto explained.

'What? I didn't notice them…' Sasuke thought back to the encounter.

"Kabuto-san, are you alright?" Sakura asked as she ran forward to support him.

"Write this down on your cards: The three hidden Sound ninja, definite future chuunins," One of them told Kabuto.

Just then, there was a giant puff of smoke at the front of the room, and a group of Konoha ninja appeared. The one at the head of the group introduced himself as Ibiki Morino and threatened to fail the Sound genin if they continued fighting. He further said that no fighting would be allowed without permission and that killing would not be tolerated even if permission to fight is given. Afterwards, he instructed the genin to pick up a number from the front and sit at the assigned seat.

"…we will then hand out the exams."

_A paper test? This should be easy for me and Sakura then…_

'…this would be the worst possible test for the old idiot Naruto…but he looks as if this is the easiest thing in the world,' Sakura mused.

"Naruto-kun…" a voice came from beside Naruto. "Let's… do our best…" He turned around to see Hinata smile with a faint blush. He returned the smile and nodded.

Ibiki proceeded to explain the rules as soon as everyone was seated. Apparently, everyone would start with 10 points and get one deducted for each question wrong, and it was also a team test, so whoever passes would be determined by the combined total of the team. When Sakura heard the second rule, she felt concerned and thought about Naruto, before calming down again after remembering that he was supposedly actually quite capable, according to him.

The third rule was that 2 points would be deducted per time somebody was caught cheating.

"Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As shinobis trying to achieve the level of chuunin, be proud ninjas," Ibiki elaborated.

Then he explained the final rule, that whoever loses all their points during the test and those who answer nothing correctly would be failed along with their teammates.

'! Wha-?' Sasuke almost panicked as he thought of Naruto. Meanwhile, Sakura bit her lip and hoped that Naruto would be okay.

"The exam will last one hour. Begin!"

Naruto looked at his test paper. He quickly looked over all the questions. There seemed to be a question 10, which would apparently not be given until 45 minutes into the test. He looked back at the rest of the questions.

_These…are all unreasonably difficult. I can answer them…and probably so could Sakura…but I doubt anybody else could possibly answer these…_

His eyes darted around the room, and noticed that almost nobody was writing.

_Looks like I was right…What a ridiculous exam._

But it didn't matter to him, as he could answer them anyways. Though…there was a chance that Sasuke wouldn't be able to answer any. That would be a problem. But he couldn't of anything to do for the moment, so he started on the first question.

From far behind him, Sasuke noticed that Naruto was writing furiously. He raised an eyebrow. 'I thought Naruto would be freaking out by now…'

From a few seats behind Naruto, Sakura also noticed Naruto writing furiously. 'Wow, I shouldn't have worried…' She looked at her own test paper and began to do the questions.

A few moments later, Sasuke had an epiphany. 'Heh…I see…' It was quite obvious to him, really. 'I…can't answer a single one of these…' He thought while beginning to sweat. 'What a joke. The dead-last is getting this and I'm not…calm down…I can't fail this…I'm an Uchiha…think!

Meanwhile, Sakura was answering the questions well and her thoughts wandered to the nature of the exam. 'There are 51 teams here…if only 10 of them pass…then we have to get a lot of points…this is a system that encourages cheating. Hopefully Naruto and Sasuke-kun won't be foolish enough to cheat.' She glanced again at Naruto. 'Well, doesn't look like Naruto will need to…'

'What's with this…it's like they want us to cheat…' Sasuke's thoughts raced. 'But all those guys watching…they are making checks on their sheets.' He noticed one of them writing on his sheet. He thought back to Ibiki's words. 'I see, so that's it! Damn it, this isn't just a test to measure our intelligence. This is also a test…to see how well we gather information with our skills…' Everything suddenly made sense to him. He activated his sharingan and began copying the movements of somebody in front of him who was writing quickly.

It was just about the 30 minute mark. Naruto finished his test and flipped it over. His thoughts began racing. Both Sakura and Sasuke were sitting behind him, so he couldn't tell how they were doing. He had realized over the course of writing that the goal of the test was probably to cheat effectively. For him, it didn't matter because he could answer it.

But what about the reason that the test was team-based?

_They must want us to coordinate our efforts..._

His mind began to think up a plan.

He grinned.

* * *

"If you need it, copy from this…but don't handle it too roughly…or it'll go poof…" Both Sakura and Sasuke heard a tiny whisper beside each their ears. They both turned, but saw nothing. Then, they noticed a piece of paper appearing on their desks from thin air.

It was…a copy of the test. With completed answers, and Naruto's name on it.

They both looked at Naruto's seat. He was holding his head back reclining, as if relaxing. They couldn't see whether he had his test paper or not.

"Don't worry…my original is secure…this is just a Shadow Clone copy," the voice whispered again. "Later."

'What the heck was that?' Sakura wondered. Oh well, she didn't need it anyways. Then, suddenly she slumped forward in her desk, caught by Ino's mind-body switch technique. The paper that just appeared did just poof as she hit the table. When Ino forced her body upright again, she began memorizing the answers from Sakura's answer sheet.

'How did you manage this, dead-last?' Sasuke wondered. He was about to move it and copy from it because it would help him conserve chakra as opposed to using the Sharingan. But then he realized that if he moved it, the watchers would easily see him cheating. 'So that's what he meant by it'll go poof. I'm supposed to memorize this first before making it disappear by handling it roughly…to avoid getting caught…this is pretty smart…'

* * *

Naruto simply relaxed as his clones dispelled themselves without any trace of smoke, in the manner he'd perfected long ago. The combination of Transparent Escape Jutsu and Shadow Clone, along with his cloak to hide hand signs, was incredible. When you further combine that with excellent stealth capabilities he'd gained from his early years escaping the Konoha ANBU doing pranks, as well as the Silent Killing technique, it was practically undetectable.

He continued smiling as he thought of his genius plan. Thanks to the effect of Shadow Clones that he had discovered before, he was able to clone his test paper. It was possible in the same way that cloning seals was possible, but not like with unread books, because he'd had the complete knowledge of what he was cloning in this case.

Thus, he waited until it was 45 minutes into the test, for the 10th question.

* * *

Ibiki had noticed two interesting genin thus far. He didn't know their names of course, but they were Gaara and Naruto respectively. He noticed that both of them had stayed completely calm throughout the exam, and one of them looked like he was taking a nap.

"Ok…we will now begin the 10th question!"

_Finally…just one more…_

"Before we begin, I'd like to go over the added rules for this question."

_What? More rules?_

Suddenly, the door opened and Kankuro stepped into, having returned from his trip to the washroom.

"First, for this tenth question, you must decide whether to take it or not."

"Choose? What happens if we choose not to?" Temari demanded.

"You fail, along with your two teammates," came the prompt reply.

Some random genins shouted that of course they would take it then.

"And the other rule…if you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to ever take the chuunin selection exam again."

"…!" Everybody in the room was shocked. Some of them, like Gaara and Naruto, didn't show their shock on their faces.

"What kind of stupid rule is that? There are guys in here who've taken the exam before!" Kiba yelled out.

Ibiki chuckled darkly. "You guys were unlucky…this year it's my rules. But I am giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident can choose not to take it, and try again next year."

After a moment of emotional turmoil amongst almost all the genin, one stood and declared that he gave up. This began a round of quitting.

_Wait, he didn't say that we would fail if we answer incorrectly…so if we pass, it doesn't matter even if we _do_ answer incorrectly, because if we pass and become chuunin, we wouldn't need to take the exam again anyway…heh…this is pretty tricky. But with my perfect answers, there's no way we'll fail this._

Sakura glanced at Naruto again. She remembered his speech about his dream, to become Hokage. She wondered if it was worth it to risk that chance on this question. But then she realized that there was no way Naruto could answer incorrectly…not only did he easily answer the questions from before, he even managed to give Sakura his answers without anybody noticing. 'That reminds me, what the heck happened to that sheet? I feel like I blanked out for a few minutes and then it was just gone…'

The round of mass quitting stopped after a while. Ibiki counted the remaining genin. There were 66 left, which meant 22 teams. It was a little more than he'd expected; he'd thought that his skills would be enough to remove 2/3 of the teams, but it seemed that this year was particularly strong.

"Good decisions, everyone. Now…for the tenth question…" He began. "Congratulations! You've all passed the first section of the chuunin exams!"

Surprised and outraged looks were on many faces.

* * *

_**Konoha, Forest of Death/Practice Arena 44**_

At the forest of death, the genins gathered, along with Anko Mitarashi, who had led them there after crashing through the windows in Ibiki's exam room.

'This is creepy…' Sakura thought as she looked at the ominous forest.

"You'll find out soon, why it's called the Forest of Death." She paused as she looked at the group of genins. "Now before we continue, there's something I have to pass out." She held up a stack of papers. "You must sign these agreement forms. There will be deaths in this one…and if you don't sign these forms, it'll all be my responsibility. I'm going to explain the test, then you can sign it afterwards. And each team will check in that booth behind me."

So then she explained the test. Basically, the Forest of Death was also Practice Arena 44, and it had 44 locked gates around it. There was a forest and a river in it, and a tower in the centre. She showed a map when she said this. The distance between the gates to the tower was 10km. Every team was to participate in a battle for scrolls from other teams without any rules. Each team would have either a Heaven or an Earth scroll, and had to collect the other one by battling. There would be no quitting in the middle. The exam would last for 120 hours, or 5 days. To pass, a team must arrive at the tower with both scrolls, without any teammates dead, and without looking inside the scroll until reaching the tower. If one opened the scroll, there would be a "surprise".

Thus, each team signed the forms and went to their assigned gate.

_Five days…Good thing I renewed my Shadow Clone's chakra yesterday…It'll last for three weeks unless it's forced to use Jutsu._

"Yahoo! Survival is our specialty! Hinata, don't go soft on us!" Kiba said to his teammates.

"Risking our lives…this sucks, but we'll have to do it…" Shikamaru said. 'We should probably stay away from Naruto's team…I haven't seen him for a month before the exams began…but I heard his team finished an A-rank mission…plus, he's almost as smart as I am, and isn't lazy…' he thought.

'Hehe…it's finally here…the chance to fulfill our mission…' The bandaged Sound genin thought.

'Of course there's the other teams…but I'm also afraid of being with him for five days…' Kankuro thought while looking at Gaara.

* * *

As they moved to their assigned gates, everybody was told that the exam would begin in 30 minutes.

"We have some time, let's come up with a strategy. Who'll carry the scroll?" Naruto asked his teammates, while holding up the scroll he got from the registration stall.

"I will," Sasuke stated. He snatched the scroll from Naruto and put it away.

_As I thought…well whatever, it doesn't matter anyway…hehe…_

"…I guess you're not going to explain why?" Naruto asked.

"I'm the strongest, so I'm carrying it," Sasuke replied.

"Fine, be that way. Next, if we get separated, how will we determine if each other is real?" Naruto questioned.

"We'll use a codeword then, listen up—" Sasuke replied.

…_That's going to be a problem…if Sasuke thinks I'm not capable of memorizing it…_

"No wait, I have a better idea," Naruto interrupted. "For Sasuke, you can just show us your sharingan. For me, I'll make a Shadow Clone and transform it into my old outfit." He made a Shadow Clone that wore his old clothes. "And as for Sakura…hit us with the Genjutsu from 'Illusory Gifts'. We'll do these signals once we ask each other this phrase, 'What is your true form?'"

"…Fine. But what Genjutsu are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"Show him, Sakura. The one with the cherry blossoms," Naruto told her. Thus, she showed him the Genjutsu.

Afterwards, Sasuke commented, "What's with you Naruto? You've been acting completely different since the exams began. If I didn't know better, I would think you're actually smart."

"Don't worry about it Sasuke, I'll explain later. All you need to know is that from now on, I'm no longer the old stupid Naruto. That was just an act."

Sasuke looked at him suspiciously. "Whatever. Just don't die while we're in there, dead-last."

Naruto ignored him. He continued the strategizing. "It's like that examiner said, the longer we stay in there, the more difficult the exam will become, as there will be less teams left. But at the same time, those who finish early are likely to be the better ones, so the weaker ones will be the ones who finish late. Therefore, I say we head to the tower as soon as possible and wait. That way, we'll also be able to take advantage of teams that are weakened. If they've gotten to the tower, that probably means they have both scrolls, as well. So we won't have to waste time fighting teams that have the same scroll as we do. What do you think?"

"That sounds like a good plan," Sakura said.

Sasuke grunted his approval.

The 30 minutes was up.

"The second part of the chuunin exams will now BEGIN!" Anko's voice blasted to every gate.

* * *

**A/N:** To clarify what Naruto's cloak really looks like, I will say that the word "cape" also describes it quite well. The different between it and a cape though, is that this cloak covers the entire body (surrounds it, but is clipped together at the front. So, if Naruto wants to fight with Taijutsu, there isn't any problem). As I said before, this cloak is similar to the one Naruto wore (and also the rest of the team) during the Sasuke-cashing mission where they met Madara under the disguise of Tobi, and where Sasuke kills Itachi. Remember the scene when Itachi gives Naruto a gift of some sort? This is what I mean by the cloak not having any sleeves; there aren't any sleeve-holes either. It's possible to perform hand seals without it being seen, as a result, but of course he has to be careful or else the "cloak" will open up.


	12. Life on the Line

**Update June 12, 2012: Some typos and formatting issues.  
**

* * *

_**Konoha, Forest of Death**_

Team 7 rushed through the gate and moved quickly, as per Naruto's plan. Naruto then created several Shadow Clones, who rushed off in multiple directions.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, as he stopped moving.

In front of him, Naruto stopped too and looked back towards Sasuke. Sakura also stopped and looked at Naruto.

"I'm using them to scout on enemy ninja. I won't make too many of them, but I definitely want to see Gaara and Rock Lee if they fight," Naruto answered. He had also made some extras in case he found some weak team and could take them out.

"Good thinking, Naruto. That'll give us info on them in case we meet them," Sakura noted. The three began moving again.

* * *

"Wait, guys," Naruto called.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked as she stopped. Sasuke also stopped.

"One of my clones found Gaara…" Naruto said slowly, with a dark expression on his face.

Sasuke was now paying careful attention.

"You…you won't believe this. He just killed three ninjas from Rain easily without any help from his teammates, and without even _moving_…by crushing their bodies completely with sand, causing it to rain blood. It was gruesome!"

"What?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"This guy…he's on a whole other level!" Naruto's face looked slightly panicked. "And he wants to kill more ninjas…even though he's already got both scrolls!"

"Wh-what? " Sakura took on a shocked expression.

"We should stay away—crap! He noticed me! And Kiba, Hinata, and Shino are there too! He's gonna try to kill us!"

"Dispel your clone then! Get out of there!" Sasuke told him.

"I-I can't! He's about to kill them! They were our classmates!" Naruto then formed the cross seal underneath his cloak, to create and dispel a Shadow Clone to transfer chakra to his clone. He had already dispelled all other clones in existence, except for the one with Zabuza. Since this would be a three way transfer of chakra upon dispelling, his clone with Zabuza also created and dispelled a clone to transfer the chakra it received back to the original and the other clone.

* * *

Sand came up from the ground and grabbed the ankles of the three Konoha genin that were watching Gaara kill the Rain nin.

Kiba and Hinata were visibly panicked. Even Shino, the usually expressionless ninja showed a hint of fear.

"W-wait! We'll give you our scrolls! Please, just don't kill us!" Kiba yelled without thinking, as he was too panicked to remember that the two Rain nin that watched their teammate get killed also tried this and were still killed. He held up his team's two scrolls shakily. They had gotten one already earlier when an enemy team fell to their traps.

"I don't need your scrolls." Gaara stated while blasting Kiba away with his sand, knocking the scrolls out of his hand as well. He started walking slowly towards the three genin. "Naruto…Uzumaki! I can feel you! You're here, so come out and fight me…or I'll kill these three." He threatened as his sand blasted Shino and Hinata away as well, binding them to the trunks of nearby trees.

Shino's bugs tried to eat the chakra from the sand, but it was no use. The sand crushed them too easily, too quickly.

Then the Naruto-clone removed his Transparent Escape Jutsu, and jumped down from a nearby tree.

"That's enough…let them go, I'm right here." He landed right in front of Gaara.

"Finally…Mother wants your blood…Uzumaki." The sand released Kiba, Hinata and Shino.

"What are you three doing? Run away already!" the clone shouted to the three genin who were just picking themselves up.

"B-but…N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata protested, unwilling to leave Naruto to his doom.

"Die, Uzumaki!" Gaara motioned with his hand and the sand rushed towards Naruto at high speed.

_Shit! I have to stall him until they're far away enough!_

Adding chakra to his legs, he jumped up before the sand could reach him. The sand followed him up quickly. He used a replacement Jutsu to get away. The sand grabbed onto the replaced Naruto and crushed it.

"Where's the blood!" Gaara demanded.

Several kunai shot at Gaara from a nearby tree. His sand reacted instantly to prepare to block it.

"Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly those kunai turned into a thousand, appearing in a single instant, some of them already behind Gaara's automatic defense.

_Did I get him?_

"I'll be fine, get out of here before he kills us all! Don't worry about me, I'm not the real one!"

"Well, better him than us, let's go!" Kiba grabbed Hinata and jumped away, stifling a cry from her. Shino followed quickly without a word.

Just as they left the scene, Gaara's sand defense cleared to reveal Gaara's figure…completely unscathed. The sand had blocked every single kunai.

Without missing a beat, Naruto moved in a burst of speed to right in front of Gaara. The sand came to block his path. But instead of trying to attack Gaara, Naruto created several Shadow Clones and all tried to reach toward Gaara with chakra on their hands.

_Come on! Just five minutes and it should be safe for me to go…!_

One clone was only a few centimeters away when more sand came up from the ground and grabbed all of the clones before flinging them away. The original clone, flipped and landed on his feet.

_So close! If only I landed even one seal…_

* * *

"Kiba-kun, why did you do that! Naruto-kun might be killed!" Hinata protested as soon as Kiba let go of her.

"Listen…like I said earlier, Akamaru can smell the enemy's chakra and sense their strength…and he sensed that Naruto was almost as intense as that guy…I'm surprised, but Akamaru's never been wrong."

"He also said that was not the real him. The real one must be somewhere else," Shino added.

Hinata couldn't help but continue to feel concerned. 'Please don't die, Naruto-kun…'

* * *

The Naruto-clone disappeared in a burst of speed. Then, the three Sand-nin heard explosions before realizing that two gigantic trees nearby were falling down towards Gaara. His sand quickly moved to block the massive trees and hold them up. Gaara realized that he would have to move, or else his all sand would be preoccupied if Naruto attacked.

_Now!_

Two kunai carrying explosive notes landed in front of and behind Gaara. Gaara jumped back, his sand moving with him. The note behind him exploded just as his sand formed another shield and blocked it while was still in the air. He landed a few meters away.

Then he noticed something strange on the ground. It appeared to be a seal of some sort.

_Got you!_

Gaara's eyes widened slightly before there was suddenly an explosion from the ground right under him.

A few moments later, the smoke cleared to reveal Gaara slowly getting up from a few meters away from his previous spot. His body looked like it was cracked in various places and sand was falling off. But it recovered almost as quickly as it fell. In less than ten seconds, Gaara had fully recovered, once again without a scratch on him.

"Uzumaki…your blood will be delicious!" Gaara said with a crazed look.

Temari and Kankuro were shocked that somebody got past Gaara's first defense. Kankuro started sweating, as he realized that Gaara's inner demon was beginning to leak out.

_Another layer…? Damn, he's too strong for a mere clone to take on. My real self might not even be able to beat him…Whatever, enough time has passed, so they should be safe now._

The Naruto-clone landed about twenty meters in front of Gaara, on top of one of the giant trees that fell.

"Sorry, Gaara, we'll have to finish this later. Make sure you pass this section of the exam!"

Sand came at him flying at high speeds. But just before it reached, the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"No!" Gaara shouted angrily.

"It was just…a clone?" Temari wondered, in a state of shock, with her mouth staying slightly agape.

"Hey, let's get away from him…he looks pissed," Kankuro muttered while back away.

"AHHH!" Gaara screamed. "I'll kill you!" Then he gripped his head in pain with his left hand. "Sorry, Mother…I'll get some more blood for you…"

* * *

"Phew, that was close…" Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief.

"What, what happened?" Sakura asked.

"My clone held him off until they escaped. Anyways, let's not worry about that, and finish this as soon as possible. I don't want to stay in this forest any longer than I have to…in case Gaara finds us…" Naruto said as he wiped some sweat off his forehead. He thought Gaara must have been the most dangerous opponent he had faced thus far…excluding Jiraiya, but he wasn't fighting seriously that time, so it was hard to call that "dangerous".

* * *

Several moments later, as Team 7 was still heading towards the center tower, a massive gust of wind hit them. Naruto had no time to react before he was flung away by the wind.

"Ugh…" He groaned as he got up after having hit the trunk of a tree. He looked around, alert for the enemy and noticed that he had been separated from Sasuke and Sakura. Suddenly an enormous snake several times his height in width appeared from somewhere and was right in front of him.

"Woah, woah, I'm not here to hurt you…" Naruto tried to reason with the presumably wild animal, as he held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. It was ignored however, as he realized that the Snake's tail was slithering quickly toward him. He jumped away quickly, and decided that there was no choice but to defeat the snake.

The snake's head came at him with its mouth open, while he was still in mid-air. He quickly created a Shadow Clone that grabbed onto his leg and threw him out of the way. He then threw a shuriken at it before using the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. As the shuriken landed on the snake, it appeared to have absolutely no effect at all. They did embed themselves into the snake's scales, but the snake didn't seem to notice anything.

_I'll need something big, then._

Naruto landed on the snake's back. The snake turned its head around and thrashed about. He created multiple Shadow Clones and quickly jumped away from the snake.

_Detonate!_

The snake was thus enveloped in a large explosion. Naruto jumped away again, not bothering to check if the snake was still alive, instead opting to find Sasuke and Sakura as soon as possible.

* * *

"…in the presence of a predator, that is!"

Just as several snakes shot out of the grass-nin's sleeve at Sasuke, a mass of shuriken and kunai struck them, pinning them to the tree branch. Sasuke looked up to see Naruto, with a clone of himself in his former outfit.

"Sorry I'm late…," Naruto stated with a smirk, still standing on his branch that was a bit away from Sasuke and Sakura and that weird grass-nin.

"Great job, Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Naruto! I know you think you're cool and here to save us…but forget it! Run away! This one is on a whole 'nother level!" Sasuke shouted at him in a panicked tone.

"Hehe…looks like you successfully defeated that giant snake, Naruto-kun," the Grass-nin stated while crawling with his whole body.

_This guy looks like a snake…did he summon that one? If so…then we're in serious trouble…_

As Naruto was trying to think of a plan, he saw Sasuke take out the Heaven scroll.

"I will give you the scroll…please, take it and leave us," Sasuke told the grass-nin. 'We have no other choice…'

"What! What are you talking about! Why?" Naruto demanded.

"I see…very smart. The only way for prey to escape a predator…is to give the predator a different meal," The grass-nin commented while slowly getting up.

"Here, take it!" Sasuke threw the scroll at the grass-nin. But before it could land, Naruto intercepted it, grabbing the scroll with his left hand. He landed just a bit in front of Sasuke.

"You bastard! What are you doing! Don't you understand the situation!" Sasuke yelled at him with fists clenched.

Naruto turned around and punched Sasuke with his left hand that was carrying the scroll. Sasuke fell back and landed on his butt. "Guagh!" He said while wiping the blood off his lips. "What the hell?"

"You imposter! You're not Sasuke!" Naruto growled through clenched teeth.

"You idiot! I'm the real Sasuke!"

"No way! The Sasuke I know isn't a coward! He would never just give up our scroll to the enemy!" Naruto claimed while pointing the hand holding the scroll at Sasuke. "What makes you think he'll let us go after you give him the scroll!" He further demanded.

"He's correct Sasuke-kun. I could just kill you and take the scroll," the grass-nin stated while his tongue darted out and licked around his lips and cheek. He then bit his thumb and swiped some blood on the back of his left forearm. There was some sort of seal there.

_Another summoning! Damn there's not enough space here to do an explosion without hurting Sasuke and Sakura too!_

Naruto ran forward and held his hands in the cross seal after putting the Heaven scroll in his mouth horizontally and biting down on it.

_I'll have to resort to taijutsu then!_

Over twenty Shadow Clones appeared, all quickly forming the hand seals for the Stone Armor Jutsu.

There was a massive poof of smoke and another gigantic snake appeared right below the grass-nin. The tongue of the snake lashed out and tried to grab several Naruto-clones but the clones it targeted reacted by kicking the tongue away. All twenty clones then jumped off the tree branch they were on and surrounded the snake in mid-air. In another instant, many more shadow clones appeared underneath them, and grabbed the ones above them. They threw the first twenty Shadow Clones at the snake. They all simultaneously kicked the snake, knocking it up in the air.

The original Naruto then jumped away and held his hands in the cross seal once more, while the Naruto clones all dispelled. Then, more clones appeared all over the place, and a group of twenty from above simultaneously heel-kicked the snake. As the snake was knocked to the side, another group engaged and punched it in another direction. Just as it reached another group, the original Naruto kicked off a clone and got away before the clone group the snake was about to hit exploded.

The grass-nin fell down from the smoke, landing another tree. Meanwhile, Naruto also landed on a tree opposite the grass-nin.

"Kukuku…not bad, Naruto-kun…but too bad I don't have time to play with you…" the grass-nin stated with his outrageously long tongue drooping out from his mouth.

'This is Naruto?' Sasuke wondered as he witnessed the fight before him.

Suddenly Naruto felt a presence behind him, and before he could react, he was hit from behind and blasted into a tree face first.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, just as Naruto fell backwards after bouncing off and landed on his back on a branch of that tree.

Naruto's Stone Armor Jutsu had taken the brunt of the hit, but he was still aching from the power of it. Without warning, another giant snake appeared and its tail swung down mightily at Naruto's form. It hit Naruto and crashed through the entire branch.

"Ku-Arhg!" Naruto spurt out blood from his mouth as he was hit and fell down through the branch. But before he landed, he was hit by the tail again and this time crashed into a tree to the right of the one Sasuke and Sakura were on. Naruto's body embedded itself into the tree, with his head hanging loosely and his arms and legs spread out wide. The tree bark slowly fell away, and Naruto's body fell forward, landing on another tree branch with a dull thud.

The grass-nin was still on his snake, which was now slithering about in front of Naruto. The grass-nin jumped off the snake and slowly walked towards Naruto, with a smile on his face. "It looks like you're done, Naruto-kun."

He picked Naruto up and grabbed the Heaven scroll from Naruto's right hand, which surprisingly still managed to hold on to it. He then threw Naruto backwards again, and walked back to his snake before jumping on it. He was just about to slither away when he noticed Naruto moving again.

"Y-you bastard!" Naruto got out as he tried to get up and support himself with just his legs. He wiped the blood from his mouth, but was unable to get up completely. His let his arms hang in front of him, while his legs were bent and shaking slightly. He breathed heavily as he eyed the grass-nin again.

"Damn it Naruto! We can't win! Just let him go with the scroll!" Sasuke shouted at him from his position that was about thirty metres above and to the left of Naruto.

"Shut up! Didn't you hear him! He'll kill us all even if he has the scroll!" Naruto managed to yell back before resuming his heavy breathing.

"Kukuku…you're still trying to protect your teammates, even when you can barely move? How noble, Naruto-kun…" the grass-nin said with a deep chuckle. His head turned around to face Naruto again, at an almost impossible angle.

"That's right…" Naruto began as strength came back into him. "I have to, even if it kills me…if I want to be Hokage…" He said while straightening his body and pulling out a kunai. He threw it at the grass-nin. The grass-nin turned his body around and his tongue went out and caught the kunai before letting it drop to the ground.

"…because putting your life on the line to protect everyone…" Naruto threw another kunai at him, this time with explosive seals on them.

"That won't work, Naruto-kun…" the grass-nin somehow managed to say even though his tongue was way out of his mouth, preparing to catch the incoming kunai once more.

"…that's what it means to be Hokage!" Naruto finished as he held his hands in the cross seal and that single kunai turned into a thousand.

"…!" All of a sudden, the grass-nin was seeing double. He saw an image of somebody else overlapped with Naruto's figure. He completely ignored the incoming kunai as he remembered something from his past.

* * *

**Flashback**

_They had been fighting as a friendly spar, between the genius among the three Sannin, and the latest prodigy everyone was hearing about. Orochimaru had only agreed to it because his old teammate, Jiraiya was the one who had asked him to, and he had claimed that his newest student, Minato Namikaze was so talented he was even better than Jiraiya himself._

_Of course, there was also the _other_ reason, which was that he'd heard rumors the Third Hokage was preparing to make the Namikaze the Fourth Hokage, instead of Orochimaru._

'_That title belongs to me, old man! This pathetic weakling doesn't deserve it!' Orochimaru thought as he watched Minato slowly get up as he was beaten down once again._

_During the battle, Orochimaru had seen the blonde nin use a variety of Jutsu. That rasengan was especially interesting, and it was quite powerful. But there wasn't anything else special about him, he had an excellent mastery of both wind chakra and seals, but it was obvious that he couldn't beat Orochimaru in his current state, even if he was admittedly, possibly the strongest opponent Orochimaru had faced thus far. It might even be possible that he _did_ surpass Jiraiya._

_Orochimaru looked down on Minato from on top of his snake. "Give up already. If you fight me any longer, you might just get killed. That would be too bad…as I've been hearing rumors of the Third planning to make you Hokage…"_

"_No…I can still fight…" Minato said as he wiped the blood off his mouth. "I have to do my best all the time, even if I might die…" He breathed heavily and straightened his body. "…because putting your life on the line to protect everyone…" He threw a strange looking kunai at Orochimaru. _

"…_that's what it means to be Hokage!" He finished as he held his hands in the cross seal and that single kunai turned into a thousand._

_Suddenly, there was a yellow flash and before Orochimaru knew what happened, Minato was in front of him with a Rasengan already hitting Orochimaru's stomach._

**End Flashback**

* * *

There was a thunderous sound as the spot where Orochimaru was standing was engulfed in a gigantic explosion caused by the simultaneous setting off of a thousand explosive notes.

Naruto fell down on his knees, coughing up blood.

'Unbelievable! Did Naruto actually kill him…?' Sasuke wondered with his mouth slightly open, after he moved his arms away from his face. He had tried to cover his face from the explosion.

'This strength…is that really Naruto…?' Sakura wondered as she too was shocked from the display.

But they were driven out of their thoughts when only seconds after the explosion, they heard the grass-nin laughing again.

"Kukuku…kukuku…" The grass-nin walked out of the explosion onto the branch of another tree, standing across from Naruto, about thirty metres away.

Orochimaru looked burned all over, as if skin was coming off in various places. Then he gurgled and faced his mouth toward the sky. It expanded and hands suddenly came up, grabbing onto the edges.

"Wh-what the hell?" Sasuke asked with his eyes wide open, disgusted by it.

Then Orochimaru came out of the mouth with a new body, like a snake shedding its skin. There was slime dripping all over him.

He grabbed his head with his left hand and started to laugh uncontrollably.

"You…" He then turned his head down and faced Naruto again with bloodshot eyes. "It's you!" He had finally noticed the blonde hair on Naruto, the familiar facial features, and even that huge symbol on his back. He had often seen some woman around Minato from that Whirlpool village, which used the same mark. "You're the son of the bastard that stole the title of Hokage from me!" He screamed while moving his left hand away from his head and downwards diagonally in a sweeping motion.

Naruto coughed again as he spoke up, "What the hell are you talking about?"

_Has he gone insane?_

"Naruto Uzumaki…the son of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze!" He screamed out. "Even in death…you STILL INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS, YOU DAMN BLONDE BASTARD!"

_Wh-what?_

"Wh-who the hell are you!" Naruto demanded as he grabbed his side in pain, which was injured from before.

The grass-nin seemed to calm down a little. He chuckled deeply again. "I am…Orochimaru of the Sannin. Student of the Third Hokage, and the man who should have been the Fourth Hokage…" he stated while licking his lips again with his tongue.

_A-a Sannin! Holy crap! Th-then, we're doomed!_

"I was going to let you go alive…but now, I'll have to kill you before you become a threat to me again…and I'll even get revenge doing it!" Orochimaru said while he formed some hand signs and looked at Sasuke and Sakura.

"Temporary Paralysis Jutsu," he stated as he finished the last hand seal. His neck began elongating unnaturally.

Suddenly, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura found themselves completely paralyzed and unable to move. They couldn't even move their mouths or eyes. Such was the immense power of a Temporary Paralysis technique performed by a ninja at Sannin-level.

"Now, die, Naruto-kun!"

_N-no! He's gonna kill me! _

Naruto watched the scene as if it happened in slow mode. Orochimaru approached with his neck elongating at high speed and a sword coming of out his mouth, aimed right at Naruto.

_I-I can't die here! I have to become Hokage!_

Orochimaru got even closer.

_Damn it! Move, body, move!_

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, taking on a demonic look. His whisker marks grew thicker, and power surged into him.

But it was too late.

Orochimaru's sword struck into his chest and pierced through cleanly.

Blood came out of Naruto's mouth.

Orochimaru withdrew his neck and the sword along with it, causing blood to spurt out of Naruto's wound, staining his cloak. Orochimaru's neck went back to normal length and the bloody sword went back into his mouth.

Naruto's eyes rolled back and closed, his body falling forward.

It must have been only a few seconds, but to Sasuke and Sakura, it felt like an eternity before Naruto landed face down lifelessly, a pool of blood beginning to form around him.

* * *

**A/N:** Hello everyone, it's been a while. If anybody is still around from when I first published this story, then thank you for staying interested. Well, better late than never right? I actually had this chapter in store for a really long time, but aside from a variety of real-life priorities, I had some difficulty determining the most logical way for events to proceed from this point, considering everything that has changed thus far in the chuunin exam, although some things might appear minor to you right now.

Hopefully the next chapter will come quickly. See you soon.


	13. Demonic Power

**_Konoha, Forest of Death_**

The Temporary Paralysis technique wore off.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke and Sakura both screamed and jumped towards Naruto's body as fast as they could.

"Wake up, dead-last! Wake up! Don't die on us!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto's body while checking his breathing.

"You can't die Naruto, you just can't!" Sakura cried out as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"It's faint, but at least he's still breathing...but he needs help soon, because it's going away fast," Sasuke said to Sakura, who was sobbing uncontrollably.

'He took a sword through the heart! There's no way we can make it in time…' Sakura thought to herself as tears streamed down her cheeks. But she pulled herself together and flipped Naruto over to examine his wound and see what she could do.

Sasuke stood up. He turned around with Sharingan blazing in both eyes. He remembered Itachi's last words to him. But he realized…

'If I can't even put my life on the line here, how can I expect to face Itachi! The dead-last might be dead now…because I was a coward!'

"I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke said through clenched teeth. He whipped out a windmill shuriken and various kunai and other throwing weapons.

* * *

**_Unknown Location_**

The sound of dripping water rang out everywhere. Naruto lay face down on the ground, which was covered in black water. He got up slowly and promptly fell down to one knee, clutching his chest that was blazing with pain.

"**You are pathetic, boy**," a coarse voice boomed from high above him, from behind the giant vertical metal bars the top of which he could not see. "**Come closer**."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not in a condition to move, furball," Naruto replied with a sneer as he put up a tough front after he noticing the massive nine-tailed fox in the shadows behind the bars.

"**Silence, mortal! I will tear you to shreds!**" The fox raged as it stepped into the light.

"This is my mind, isn't it? I'll say whatever I want," Naruto responded while finally managing to get up as he acclimatized to the pain. "So, give your chakra, or die!" Naruto demanded.

"**You're threatening me while on the verge of death? How laughable.**" The Nine-Tails snorted.

"No, that's precisely why I can threaten you right now. The whole reason you pulled me here is to prevent yourself from dying with me, isn't it?" Naruto grinned back.

The Nine-Tails roared with anger and tried to attack Naruto with his claws through the cage bars, but fortunately, they were not long enough to reach. The force of the attack threw Naruto back to the ground. Simultaneously, a torrent of red chakra seeped through the cage bars to Naruto at high speed and blanketed him."

* * *

**_Konoha, Forest of Death_**

Sasuke jumped up and threw the Windmill Shuriken at Orochimaru. Orochimaru tried to dodge it.

Sasuke then pivoted off a tree and threw the rest of his weapons.

'Not bad…he's reading my movements and going for a critical hit,' Orochimaru realized as he tried to dodge yet again.

Then Sasuke landed on a tree with his back to it, using chakra to stick his feet to it.

'String?' Orochimaru noticed that all the weapons had strings attached to it. But even though he noticed, he was unable to avoid the string pulling around him, catching him in Sasuke's trap.

'To read all the places I could run and attack from where I can't see…'

"Dragon Fire Jutsu!" Fire flew out of Sasuke's mouth and burned across the string all the way to Orochimaru's face, which started to burn.

'Did I get him?' Sasuke wondered while panting.

The fire subsided to reveal a mass of skin peeling off of Orochimaru's face.

"To be able to use the Sharingan so well at this age…you are truly the man with the Uchiha blood…" Orochimaru stated with an evil smile. "I had fun testing your powers. You really are brothers. I sense power in your eyes that even surpasses Itachi."

Sasuke was shocked to hear Orochimaru say his brother's name.

"Who the hell are you!"

Just then, Orochimaru, Sasuke and Sakura all felt a powerful and evil chakra.

* * *

**_Southern Fire Country_**

"So, where exactly are we headed to now? I've hardly had to do anything during these last few bounty fights. Although, since I'm in the chuunin exams right now, that's probably a good thing," A Naruto-clone said to his partners in crime Zabuza and Haku while walking leisurely out of a hidden bounty reception warehouse. It was incredible how the bounty return system was hidden in plain sight, in buildings you'd think were completely normal – and were, if you didn't break some genjutsu or press a secret button somewhere.

"You can blame your vulnerability that we've only attacked small fry," Zabuza gruffed out through his mask. "But now, we're going to catch a big fish in the Land of Rivers."

"The Land of Rivers? That is more than a week away from here," Haku commented.

"Right, so start running," Zabuza responded as he leapt off the road and into the forest beside them which was so characteristic of the lush land in the Land of Fire. Naruto and Haku followed after him and caught up after a few seconds.

"Who's this big fish you're talking about? What's his bounty worth?" Naruto asked curiously while jumping from tree to tree beside Zabuza.

"He's a failure that should never have been allowed to become one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. But it's not just his bounty we're after. Apparently he conquered himself a goldmine."

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed, then suddenly, "WOAH! ARRGHHH!" Naruto screamed out while jumping down to the forest ground. His whiskers became more pronounced, his nails and teeth elongated, and his pupils became slits. But he fell to the ground and started writhing wildly around in pain, as he felt his chakra body destabilize and threaten to end the clone technique.

Haku and Zabuza stopped and jumped down next to Naruto, and each pulled out their weapons, expecting an enemy.

Naruto tried desperately to hang on for dear existence with all of his chakra control skills.

* * *

**_Konoha, Forest of Death_**

"N-Naruto!" Sakura called out, too shocked to do anything, as she believed that Naruto was dead or almost dead. She saw Naruto rise up slowly, and watched in morbid fascination as the blood on him seeped back into him, and the wound closed itself at high speed. There was steam rising out of it as it closed. Sakura watched closely as circular black markings that looked like some sort of seal appear on his stomach. Then Naruto let out a low, animalistic growl.

Sasuke turned around to see Naruto standing, with some sort of visible chakra swirling around him. But, this chakra was red, and it seemed to bubble, almost.

"W-what's happening to you, dead-last?" Sasuke asked with wide eyes as he witnessed Naruto turn around, his wound completely gone. He also noticed the black markings on Naruto's stomach.

"**Orochimaru…!**" Naruto snarled with a deep, almost demonic voice. He started walking slowly towards the man whose name he called.

Orochimaru was also fascinated as he saw the unmistakable chakra. This was definitely the container of the Nine-Tails.

Orochimaru quickly summoned another giant snake to fight the Nine-Tails jinchuuriki.

Correspondingly, Naruto crouched down on all fours and…on his tail-end chakra began bubbling and moving, forming a tail, and seemingly trying to form more.

He then disappeared in a burst of speed and punched the snake that appeared, blasting it back into the tree trunk and causing it to burst into smoke.

What followed was a series barely visible movements as Naruto slammed Orochimaru around.

'What is this power?' Sasuke wondered as his eyes sharingan eyes were glued to the battle. It was so fast that even his 2-tomoe eyes could hardly see it.

'What's going on?' Sakura wondered as all she saw were cracks appearing on various trees and a few glimpses of red and occasionally some snakes.

'I can't play around anymore…they'll have found the bodies by now…and I still need to give my mark to Sasuke…!' Orochimaru thought before forming a series of hand seals, after using a giant mass of snakes to push Naruto back.

Naruto extended his arm and the chakra around him further extended, as if it became a third arm, moving towards Orochimaru.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Naruto was pushed back by the wind and slammed into the tree trunk the snake from earlier had slammed into. The snakes continued to hold on to him and further multiply until they bound Naruto by the arms and legs onto the tree trunk behind him. But Naruto broke free through sheer power and launched himself at Orochimaru. This time, he hit and continued to hold onto Orochimaru, pushing him at high speed into another tree trunk. But as soon as they hit the tree, the Orochimaru that Naruto was holding melted into mud.

"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"

Then the mud condensed and became a dragon biting at Naruto. It forced Naruto down with his back onto a horizontal tree branch.

"Earth Release: Landslide!"

A mass of earth erupted from the trees and slammed down at Naruto, forcing him to stay down.

"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"

The mud and earth moved up and hardened to surround Naruto, boxing him in. In another instant, Orochimaru appeared right in from of him and crouched down to the ground.

"Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!"

A huge torrent of countless snakes was released from Orochimaru's mouth, instantly shooting at Naruto. The majority of them grabbed onto Naruto's limbs while some of them opened their mouths and swords came out of them. They all stabbed into Naruto in various places, before several more snakes came out of Orochimaru's sleeve and tore aside Naruto's jacket and cloak to reveal the seal of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Without losing a second, Orochimaru rushed forward with his right hand outstretched, chakra forming on each finger.

"Five Elements Seal!" He slammed his technique into the seal visible on Naruto's stomach.

"Ku-AHH!" Naruto screamed as the demonic red chakra exploded outwards, blasting everything away before receding back inside Naruto. His eyes returned to normal, and his whisker marks became thinner. He fell down on his knees before his eyes closed, becoming unconscious as he fell face-forward on the mass of earth that was still there.

'If he's also the Nine-Tails brat…with my seal disrupting his seal, and with a beast as powerful as the Nine-Tails…I might just release the fox accidently if I kill him and risk losing those sharingan eyes…and maybe he'll even get rid of some of those Akatsuki bastards later on…I'll leave him alive for now…' He felt Anko getting closer to him. 'No time left…!' Orochimaru thought as he turned towards Sasuke.

Suddenly both Sasuke and Sakura found themselves unable to move once again.

'Just what is this stupid Jutsu?' Sasuke thought angrily. But before he could think any further, he realized that Orochimaru was somehow already biting on the back of neck on the left side. Orochimaru had used the same technique as he used earlier to lengthen his neck.

There was a brief moment of stupor as Sasuke was dumbfounded that Orochimaru would take such a strange action, almost like some sort of vampire, before the pain hit him.

"AH!" As Orochimaru's neck shortened again, Sasuke gripped the spot where he was bitten with his right hand. 'What is this pain?' He clenched his teeth hard but found himself unable to take the pain, his legs losing strength as he went down on one knee.

"Well, it's time for me to go, Sasuke-kun. If you want to see me again…" He took out the Heaven scroll he grabbed from Naruto earlier and started burning it in his hands with some sort of Jutsu. "Survive and pass this exam. And the team of Sound genin too…"

"No way! We don't want to see your face ever again!" Sakura shouted.

"Kukuku…don't worry…Sasuke-kun will definitely come seek me for power…hehehe…"

Just as he said that, Sasuke passed out and fell down, with Sakura running toward him to catch him.

"Sasuke-kun!" When she had realized Sasuke had already passed out, she noticed that Orochimaru was gone as well, and that Naruto lay unmoving.

She was alone, with both her teammates passed out, and one of them with some serious stab wounds, and the other a victim of a strange jutsu.

* * *

**_Southern Fire Country_**

Finally, the Naruto-clone was relieved of his pain as the demonic chakra withdrew. It was right on time too, for he felt that any longer and he would have poofed out of existence as his chakra control failed to contain the disruptions caused by what was probably the Nine-Tails chakra. It was remarkable though, that disruptions in the chakra of the original could cause such reactions in a clone. This was a phenomenon he had no ability to explain, as he had understood the clone technique to create clones with chakra networks of their own, that were separated from the original. But then again, there had to be _some_ link, or else there would be no memory transfer.

"Oh man, that was close… I almost dispelled," the Naruto-clone groaned as he pulled himself back up.

Zabuza and Haku stared down at him. "What the hell happened to you? There aren't any enemies nearby," Zabuza stated. He had pretty good detection skills, as to be expected of one who fought in total mist, and was quite surprised when an enemy had apparently hit Naruto with some sort of jutsu without him noticing anything at all.

"The boss got into an epic fight with a super-powerful ninja and was forced to use some last resorts. But he's alright now," Naruto responded. He wasn't actually sure what happened, since the last clone dispel was the group that kicked around that huge snake summon. He could only guess that his original must have gotten in a major pinch and the Nine-Tails decided to help out.

"That must be a very…painful last resort, Naruto, what kind of ninja could possibly cause you to do that in a chuunin exam? You are already quite strong," Haku remarked, as he helped Naruto to his feet.

"Someone who can repeatedly summon giant snakes fifty times bigger than me," Naruto responded as the three prepared to continue their journey west toward the Land of Rivers.

"That's one hell of an exam you got. Even I have to say I'm impressed. My chuunin exam was full of losers who ran after seeing my face," Zabuza noted as he jumped away once more.

* * *

**_Konoha, Forest of Death – Many hours later_**

Naruto's body felt like it was on fire. He was burning everywhere, with unimaginable pain. But for some reason, he couldn't move his body. He couldn't even open his eyes.

After a while, the pain seemed to subside somewhat. But now he felt utterly weak, as if he had no chakra. He also felt as though he'd been stabbed numerous times in various places, but couldn't recall how that could've happened.

_"…p-tec-ti-I-die!"_

No, wait, he could remember.

He'd almost died.

But then there was that feeling of incredible power surging forth from everywhere. It started from his stomach, and he felt a new chakra flowing through him. Then it went up to his chest and spread throughout the rest of his body.

_"In-Shi…forma-ion"_

Yes, he could remember a little now…the meeting with the Nine-Tails, the red chakra swirling around him as he got up from what should have been a mortal wound, the second fight with Orochimaru, and how at the very end, Orochimaru used the Seal Imprint technique to mess with his seal.

But where was he now? He tried to open his eyes. It seemed to work, but then he found himself still in complete darkness.

Faintly, he realized that he could hear some sounds. It seemed like a battle of sorts. He concentrated, listening for any words.

_"Who did that to you, Sakura?"_

Was that Sasuke? What's going on out there?

_"I feel…powerful."_

He clutched his head. To his surprise, his body seemed to respond. But everywhere was still dark. Just what was this place? Was he even awake? But his head seemed to hurt now.

_"Here…take our scroll and let us go…"_

The pain subsided once again. There was feeling coming back into his body. But it felt odd, as if there was something wrong with his chakra.

_"What should we do? He still hasn't woken up…"_

_"Somehow, his wounds are almost all gone…we'll wait a little longer, but tomorrow we'll have to get a Heaven scroll by ourselves if we have to. You'll have to guard Naruto while I find a weak team."_

_"B-but that's dangerous! And what about that mark on your back?"_

That must have been Sasuke and Sakura. He would have to wake up soon…

But, he felt so tired. Just a little longer…

* * *

**A/N**: This one is a little short, but the next one is coming soon...maybe...if you review ^_^. No really, it will be coming soon, since I already wrote it but I decided to split it because the title didn't fit and I wanted to change a couple of things. See you soon.


	14. What Happened?

_**Konoha, Forest of Death**_

Sasuke and Sakura had just finished eating some fish that Sasuke caught in the river running through the Forest of Death. To catch the fish, Sasuke had to leave Sakura with Naruto temporarily, but fortunately neither Sasuke nor Sakura and Naruto were attacked.

They had built a small fire in their little cave-like under-section of one of the huge trees in the forest. Sasuke was now taking a rest against the "wall", while Sakura was sitting beside Naruto, still tending to his slight fever.

"Just what happened to you back then…?" Sakura whispered to Naruto's still form. "And that man…Orochimaru, he called you the son of the Fourth Hokage…"

"Sakura, get some rest while you can. You've been up for way too long," Sasuke called to her.

"Okay…" Sakura responded quietly. She was just about to check Naruto's forehead for signs of fever again when she heard a groan. Then Naruto's right hand flew up to his own forehead and slowly opened his eyes.

"Naruto! You're awake!" Sakura said excitedly. It had been over fifteen hours since the battle with Orochimaru. It was still the second day, around noon.

Naruto's upper body came up and forward and he shook his head rapidly, trying to clear the fogginess he was feeling.

"Hey, you shouldn't move too much! You were seriously wounded!" Sakura protested as she supported him with her arms.

Sasuke rushed over.

"No, I'm fine now," Naruto pushed away Sakura's hands.

"Naruto, how are your wounds?" Sasuke asked as he sat down beside him, cross-legged.

"I think…they're still here, but the pain is gone. I'm pretty much feeling normal, except my chakra…" He answered as he looked at his body and held up his hands to see them.

"What the hell happened to you back there? Orochimaru stabbed you straight through the chest. How are you even alive? And what was that power?" Sasuke demanded. Whatever it was, it was clearly inhuman, or some sort of extremely powerful forbidden jutsu. It was also like…when Sasuke woke up. He too had felt immense power at that time.

"I-I don't know," Naruto lied. He did have a good idea of what it was. The Nine-Tails. But he didn't want to say anything yet. "All I remember is…seeing red everywhere, and I suddenly felt really powerful. Then, everything became really clear and focused and seemed slow."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at him. Aside from the 'seeing red' part, that was exactly the description Sasuke would have given to what he felt earlier.

"How are you feeling?" Sakura asked with a concerned look.

"Everything's fine, except my chakra. When I draw up my chakra, I feel as if I were still in the Academy…That seal he put on me, it completely messed up my chakra control," Naruto muttered as it tried to focus chakra to his hands. He found it was possible, but imprecise and difficult to maintain. In his current state, his Clone Explosions would be too dangerous to use, as he wouldn't be able to control the output properly. He would probably also be unable to perform the Seal Imprint technique with any seal. Fortunately though, his Stone Armor Jutsu would still work because that one didn't need a constant flow of chakra. The Transparent Escape Jutsu, on the other hand…might prove a problem. He wasn't sure how it would turn out.

"He put a seal on you?" Sasuke asked, wondering what kind of seal it was, as he knew that whatever Orochimaru gave Sasuke, it seemed like a seal as well.

'First it was both of them with the evil chakra…now they both got some sort of seal too?' Sakura thought to herself, deep with worry as she frowned.

"I think he called it, Five Elements Seal. Didn't you see him hit me with something before I passed out?" Naruto responded.

Sasuke and Sakura remembered that moment clearly; that was when Naruto's red chakra receded back into him.

"Anyways, what happened after that?" Naruto asked. "Did you defeat him, Sasuke?" Naruto was, frankly, surprised to be alive as well. Could Sasuke really have been strong enough to take him out?

"No, he bit Sas-" Sakura started to speak, but was cut off when Sasuke interrupted.

"He burned our Heaven scroll and told us to survive the exam before knocking me out with some Jutsu. After that, for about ten hours while we were both unconscious, Sakura took care of us," Sasuke then looked at Sakura and seemed to want her to continue.

Sakura felt awkward because Sasuke deliberately stopped her from telling Naruto about the curse mark. She was thinking of how to tell the rest of the story without mentioning Sasuke's sudden evil chakra that came from the curse mark.

_So Sasuke's hiding something too…_

"Then a team of Sound genin attacked us, trying to kill Sasuke-kun. They were following orders from Orochimaru," Sakura continued carefully, giving as many details as possible without giving away too much.

"Sound genin? You mean the ones that attacked Kabuto before the first exam?" Naruto asked, curious.

Sakura seemed surprised for a moment, before gathering herself and answering, "Oh yeah…now that you mention it, it was the same team. Anyways, then thick-brows showed up and tried to take them all on. Uh, I mean that Rock Lee guy."

At this, Naruto's eyes widened slightly. If he defeated them all, then that would really be someone to watch…

"But he lost. Then Ino-pig, Shikamaru, and Chouji showed up as well and helped us out."

"Wait, can you tell me how the battle with Lee went?" Naruto interrupted, as he was curious as to his abilities and those of the Sound genin.

"Um…" Sakura tried to think back and remember the details. "It started with Lee almost defeating one of the Sound genin, but then the Sound survived it with the help of his teammate, and Lee wasn't able to move well after that. Then, when the Sound genin attacked, even though Lee dodged the attack, he was hit by the sound. The Sound genin was able to use sound waves to attack Lee's ear, and ended up defeating him."

_So that's what it was…no wonder…Kabuto did dodge the attack after all, but the sound hit him…_

"So, that's when Ino and her team showed up to help us. At first, they had some success. Ino used her Jutsu to take over one of the Sound genin's bodies."

_Interesting, that must be the Yamanaka's trademark… I wonder how it works…_

"But then the Sound-nins attacked their own teammate, and defeated them too."

_These Sound nins are pretty strong…_

"Then, Lee's teammates' showed up too."

_Wow. What next? Gaara shows up too?_

"Lee's teammate Neji was acting all confident and preparing to defeat the Sound-nin when Sasuke-kun woke up. Then Sasuke-kun took down one of the Sound nin, and since one of them was already down from her teammates' own attacks, the last one gave us their scroll and left with his teammates." Sakura finished by taking out the Earth scroll that they had gotten.

"So, what happened with the two teams that came to help us? Did they just leave?" Naruto asked curiously. He was a little surprised that they had been willing to help in the first place. Well, Shikamaru probably would have been willing to do something…but Rock Lee and Neji Hyuuga? He expected them to at least take the Sound-nin's scroll as payment.

"Well, yeah. It's been five hours since then. Right, here's some fish for you to eat," Sakura told him as she went over to the smoldering ashes where they had built a small fire surrounded by some rocks. She grabbed the fried-fish-on-a-stick and handed it to Naruto.

"Ah, thanks!" Naruto said with a smile before he started wolfing it down.

Sasuke and Sakura simply watched while he finished eating the fish in less than a minute.

'…he eats like an animal…' Sakura thought while looking away disgusted, offended by the rude display.

'I can…definitely eat faster than that!' Sasuke thought competitively.

"Alright!" Naruto said in a muffled voice with some fish still in his mouth, as he was wiping away the last bits of food around his lips with his hand. He got up and walked over to where his cloak was and wrapped it around him, and clipping the two ends together at the front neck area to finish putting it on. He would have to replace it later, seeing as there were holes and blood all over it now. Fortunately, he had made sure to order multiple copies of it when he requested the custom design. He turned back to face Sakura and Sasuke.

"It's already the second day right? Now that we have both scrolls, let's get to the tower as soon as possible. We might be able to get some rest before the third exam starts if we get there early."

"Didn't I tell you? Orochimaru burned our Heaven scroll, idiot," Sasuke told him with an annoyed look.

"Oh, you mean this thing?" Naruto said as he seemed to fumble around a bit before his left hand came out of his cloak and revealed the Heaven scroll, perfectly intact.

"Wh-where did you get that, Naruto!" Sakura questioned, completely taken aback with her eyes wide open.

"Heh, I knew you would try to take it from me before we entered the forest, Sasuke. So I made a fake one with a blank scroll and showed that one to you when I asked you who would carry the scroll. I kept the real one myself." Naruto replied with a grin.

"You bastard!" Sasuke tried to say angrily, but found himself smirking as he was too happy that they still had their Heaven scroll and could now go to the tower.

"Way to go, Naruto!" Sakura smiled, forgiving him for tricking them like that because they wound up keeping the real one.

* * *

"So, what now?" Naruto asked his teammates as he looked around the room they were in. There was writing on the wall that appeared to be a hint as to what they should do. It was fortunate that they had met no trouble on the way to the tower. That was probably because it was still early in the test. Had they delayed until the 5th day, there would certainly have been teams who hadn't yet found another scroll waiting to ambush other approaching teams.

"Let's open the scrolls. They said we wouldn't be allowed to open the scrolls until the tower, but we're here now," Sasuke responded as he took out the Earth scroll while Naruto took out the Heaven scroll.

They both unfurled their scrolls.

Suddenly seals appeared on both scrolls and they both threw them away before it could hurt them. There was a poof of smoke…and a random chuunin whom they never met appeared.

"Congratulations, you three. You've passed the second portion of the chuunin exams," the man said with a smile.

* * *

They were escorted out of the room and upstairs to another room, where there were three beds and where Kakashi was standing, reading his orange book.

"Ah…so you made it," Kakashi said from behind his face mask that he always wore while putting away his book.

"Of course we did. We're the best," Naruto claimed with a grin. "So, I take it that we can't leave the Tower until the five days are up?" Naruto asked as he walked forward and fell down on a bed on his back and closed his eyes.

Sakura and Sasuke followed suit, but merely sat on a bed each as they looked at Kakashi.

"That's right…actually, you can't even leave this room, unless you have an escort. But don't worry, there's a bathroom over there," he gestured to the other door in the room, "and somebody will bring meals to you at 7, 12 and 6. When the five days are up, somebody will come get you."

"…but there's nothing to do in this room! This is like a prison!" Sakura complained.

"Well…this is better than the forest, right?" Kakashi pointed out as he shrugged. "But, Sasuke, you need to come with me immediately. From what we heard, you three faced Orochimaru of the Sannin in the forest, right?" He suddenly became serious.

Naruto jolted up. "What? How did you know that?" Sakura and Sasuke looked surprised too.

"That's not important. Right now, you have to come with me and we need to make sure he didn't do anything to you, Sasuke. There are Hokage-sama's orders." Kakashi stated expressionless, all-business.

_So that's what he was hiding earlier…I wonder what it was, to have caught the attention of the Old Man._

Sasuke realized that Kakashi was probably talking about the curse mark on his neck. 'What's going on?' But he nodded and got up to follow Kakashi. They were about to leave when Naruto got down from the bed and called after Kakashi.

"Wait, sensei. Is Hokage-sama in this building right now?"

Kakashi faced Naruto, who had a serious look on his face. In fact, the Hokage did rush to the tower earlier to meet with Anko regarding the Orochimaru problem, and had now established a temporary office in the Tower to make sure nothing else happened. "Yes, he's on a temporary office on the second floor. Why do you ask, Naruto?"

"If he's here, then I have to see him. It's really important," Naruto said with a hint of urgency in his tone. He stared intensely at Kakashi. Kakashi wondered what could be so important as to make Naruto refer to the Third Hokage as "Hokage-sama" rather than "Old Man".

Kakashi simply continued to stare at Naruto, not giving a response. Naruto, realizing that Kakashi wanted to hear his reason, continued carefully.

"It's about _that_."

"_That_?" Kakashi asked back, not understanding.

"Um…if something happens to your guest, then it's your responsibility to make sure everything's okay, right?" Naruto tried to be as clear as possible without revealing anything.

Kakashi's visible eye widened as he seemed to read between the lines.

"Surely you don't mean…_that_?"

'What are they talking about?' Sakura and Sasuke both wondered.

"I'm afraid _that _is exactly what I mean. So you see, this is extremely important," Naruto finished.

"I understand…"

Kakashi turned around and pressed a button beside the door, before opening the door to reveal that a chuunin was there.

"Naruto over there needs to see Hokage-sama immediately. Would you please escort him to Hokage-sama's office?"

"Understood," he chuunin said with a nod. "Please follow me." He gestured with his left hand.

Meanwhile, Kakashi exited and Sasuke followed behind him. Sasuke gave Naruto one last curious look before leaving.

Naruto was about to leave the room with the chuunin as well, completely forgetting Sakura behind him, when he heard her call out.

"Wait, Naruto. What's this about?"

Naruto stopped and turned slowly. His eyes softened and took on a sad look. "I'm…sorry Sakura. I can't tell you right now…" The truth was that he didn't really mind her knowing about the Nine-Tails. But he had another, more important reason to see the Hokage, one that he left out in his explanation to Kakashi, and one that had been bothering him even more than the issue of the seal Orochimaru placed on him.

He turned around again and walked out, following the chuunin.

Sakura looked down and sighed, as once again, she was left in the dark.

* * *

"We're here, Naruto-san."

"Thank you," Naruto nodded at the chuunin.

The chuunin knocked on the door and called in. "Hokage-sama, genin Naruto Uzumaki is here to see you."

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then, "Let him in."

Naruto pushed the door open and walked in.

"Naruto-kun, what brings you here?" the Hokage asked with a pipe in his mouth. He had a slight smile upon seeing Naruto, after realizing that he must have passed this part of the exam.

Naruto smiled back, then he noticed that the Hokage wasn't the only one in the room.

"Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto was surprised to see him leaning against the left wall, grinning at Naruto.

He walked over and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Hey kiddo, so you passed the second part of the exam, huh? I knew you could do it."

"Uh-Thanks," Naruto replied with a sheepish smile.

"So, what're you here for?" Jiraiya asked as he put his hands to his hips.

Then Naruto's expression became serious again. He looked at the Hokage and then at Jiraiya.

"In the forest, my team fought with Orochimaru," Naruto began.

"Yes, we know," Hiruzen said as his face became stern as well.

"During the fight, Orochimaru stabbed me through the chest with a sword, and I thought I died," Naruto continued as he pointed to the area where he was stabbed.

Jiraiya and the Hokage's eyes widened at that. They realized that with Naruto still standing perfectly alive that this must have had something to do with the fox.

"But somehow I survived it, and I felt a massive amount of chakra surging through me. My memory of it is blurry, but I remember being covered by red chakra and a heightened aggressiveness. I don't really remember many details besides that," Naruto explained expressionlessly.

"Hm…yes, that makes sense. That was the first time you felt the chakra right?" Jiraiya asked him, remembering that Naruto had told him he had never felt the chakra before when asked a month ago.

"Yes. But that's not why I came to see you today."

"No?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.

"Even in that state, Orochimaru was able to defeat me. At the very end, I know that he used some sort of seal on me, putting it on top of my original seal. After that, my chakra receded and I believe I fell unconscious." Naruto elaborated.

"What! He messed with your seal? That snake! Show it to me!" Jiraiya demanded, outraged.

Naruto complied and unzipped his jacket and held his cloak aside to reveal the seal by drawing up some chakra.

Jiraiya knelt down as Hiruzen watched. Jiraiya closely examined the seal. 'So this is the new seal…this is…the Five Elements Seal…it's normally used to temporary restrict chakra flow, but because it's also an odd-numbered seal, it's disrupting the function of the existing even-numbered seal. With this, the Nine-Tails chakra is mixing more erratically with Naruto's chakra, and that will probably cause a loss of chakra control along with the greater difficulty in gathering chakra…'

"Phew! I was scared for a moment," Jiraiya blew some air out of his mouth in a comic fashion as he stood up. "It's nothing serious, he only used it to block your chakra flow and disrupt the mixing of the Nine-Tails' chakra with your own."

Behind him, the Hokage also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brace yourself kid, this is gonna hurt," Jiraiya said as he held up his right hand and sent chakra to his fingers.

Naruto noticed and realized what he was going to do, so he braced himself by deeply breathing.

"Five Elements Unseal!"

In a quick motion, Jiraiya's fingers slammed into Naruto's stomach and he felt like he was on fire again.

"AH!" Naruto screamed as he clutched his stomach from the pain and doubled over. After a moment, the pain subsided and he got up again. "Did you fix it?" He asked with a gasp.

"Sure did. You should be back to normal now," Jiraiya explained.

"If that's all…you should get some rest now, Naruto-kun. You may have to fight again when the five days are up," Hiruzen advised. There was no visible signal as to what he was thinking about, but it felt to Naruto as though the Hokage had just winked at him. But that was strange, as Naruto knew that there was generally a break between the second and third portions of the exam. This meant that there might be a portion he was not aware of.

But he wasn't done yet.

"Actually…there _is_ something else I need to talk to you about," Naruto started. "Orochimaru said something during the fight." Naruto's faced darkened. "He called me…the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and his wife Kushina Uzumaki."

"…!" Jiraiya's mouth fell open. Hiruzen's eyes widened and he gripped the armrest on his chair tightly.


	15. The Meaning of the Battle

_**Konoha, Forest of Death Tower**_

"What he said…is it true?" Naruto asked quietly while staring at the Hokage.

There was a long moment of awkward silence.

"I had wanted to wait until you became a chuunin before telling you…but yes, it is true, Naruto-kun," the Hokage responded with a sigh. "But now that you know…I suppose I'll tell you the rest of it then." The aged Hokage stood and held his hands behind his back, walking towards a window.

Jiraiya stayed silent.

"Your father, Minato Namikaze was a prodigy unlike any other in history. As you already know, he was known around the world as the Yellow Flash, the man who decimated an army of ninja from Iwa during the Third Shinobi World War in an instant. With his Flying Thunder God Jutsu and special Flying Thunder God Kunai marked with seals, he could defeat any enemy he faced with ease. And because he also loved this village very much…I decided to make him my successor as Hokage. For a while, all was well. He married your mother and the two decided to have a child. But then…on the day of your birth, the Nine-Tails struck. This was an enemy that he couldn't quite fully defeat. You see, the chakra constructs known as the Tailed Beasts cannot be killed; only destroyed temporarily and they would reform later. Another problem was the sheer power of the Nine-Tails. It is the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, wielding vastly more power than even the Eight-Tails." Hiruzen turned around and walked closer to Naruto. He puffed some smoke from his pipe before continuing. "It is commonly assumed that the number of tails a Tailed Beast has is proportional to its strength, but this is not quite true. From what we have observed, it seems the Nine-Tails has vastly greater chakra than what one might expect from an additional tail, if it were proportional.

"Thus, he decided that the only way to defeat it was to use a forbidden technique, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. This jutsu summons a death god to help seal something. In return, the user would die and have their soul locked away in the stomach of the death god to battle for all eternity. I saw the tears on his face as he performed the sealing. But as a Hokage, he could not possibly ask another family to give up a baby. And…this would also help protect you in the future. Your mother had died from complications during birth." Hiruzen paused. He deliberately left out some details that Naruto probably wasn't ready to hear yet, which Jiraiya would be able to explain later when the time was right. "But the power of the Nine-Tails would be mixed with your chakra through his seal, and thus protect you from harm. The result was what happened to you earlier, during your fight with Orochimaru," Hiruzen finished his long story. He noticed that Naruto's head was lowered.

He took out something from a pocket.

"Almost everything your parents owned was destroyed in the Nine-Tails' attack, and they were a rather frugal lot to begin with, but we were able to save this," he handed a picture to Naruto. It showed Minato holding hands with Kushina, whose stomach was protruding slightly as if pregnant, and both of them smiling.

"For many years, I imagined myself to be the son of the Fourth Hokage," Naruto began, his expression unreadable as he stared at the picture he held in his hand. "I had thought to myself, 'We look so much alike! It would be so cool if we were related…'. But I brushed it aside as wishful thinking. If it were true, then why did nobody know? Why did I not share his last name? Why was I hated? And when I finally found out I was the container of the Nine-Tails, it only added to my suspicion. I can understand keeping the Nine-Tails a secret, but why my heritage too?"

"To protect you, from the many enemies your father made. You must have realized this already, right?" The Hokage responded.

"I did think of that," Naruto affirmed as he looked up, into the soft eyes of the Third. "But that's not the whole story, is it? You already had me watched all the time, by elite members of the ANBU, to protect me from those who held a grudge against me for the Nine-Tails. What difference would a few more assassins make? If anything, the revelation of my heritage would have evened it all out, as the villagers would not have hated me so much."

"Perhaps, it was a mistake on my part. I had hoped you would have a normal life, if neither piece of information was known to the younger generation." The Third Hokage admitted. He walked slowly back to his seat and took off his hat, placing it on his desk. "I have made many mistakes in my life, but never so many as these past twelve years. The sooner you can take this hat from me, the sooner this old man's mistakes can stop." The Hokage ended his regretful speech with a smile.

Naruto forced a smile back.

"What about my mother?"

This time it was Jiraiya who answered him, and with a grin. "Your mother was one of Konoha's best kunoichi, and also a master at sealing. In fact, one of the seals on your stomach right now is something that she taught Minato."

_The Four Symbols Seal from the Uzumaki clan…It's a little strange though, as it seems to have eight symbols rather than four. _

Jiraiya continued, "I'll tell you more after I teach you some of those seals."

"Really? That's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. That this was precisely what he had been looking for with regards to his plans to help Zabuza.

"Now then, why don't you run along now, Naruto-kun? You should rest up," the Hokage suggested with a chuckle.

* * *

As he was escorted back to Team 7's temporary room, he heard some voices.

"…really okay?"

"I told you, I'm fine. Kakashi said he sealed it, so it won't bother me anymore."

_What's Sasuke talking about?_

Opening the door, he noticed Sakura's worried look toward Sasuke and Sasuke's clear irritation before they both turned to Naruto.

"Hey guys, what was that all about? Did something happen to you Sasuke?" Naruto inquired as he approached his two teammates.

"I'm fine. There's nothing wrong. And shouldn't we be asking _you_ that? Why did you see the Hokage for?" Sasuke responded with a suspicious glare. Beside him, Sakura also looked like she wanted to say something, but stayed silent. If Naruto were to guess, she probably did not want to be hypocritical for keeping Sasuke's little secret while demanding Naruto to reveal his.

_However, this is a good time as any to reveal the fox…_

"It's a long story, but I will tell you now," Naruto answered with a sigh as he sat down on a bed. Sasuke and Sakura likewise sat down, curious to hear the answer.

Naruto looked at his two teammates who stared at him expectantly.

"Before I say anything, I must tell you that the following information is an S-Rank secret, the revelation of which by anyone without the proper clearance is punishable by death, by the Third Hokage's law. Are you ready to hear it, even knowing this?" Naruto demanded solemnly.

The looks on Sasuke and Sakura's faces showed disbelief. "An S-Rank secret? Enough joking around, dead-last!" Sasuke growled.

"It is no joke. If you don't believe me, then don't blame me for not warning you," Naruto asserted. He had expected a response like this.

"I…I want to know, Naruto. We are a team, after all, and shouldn't keep secrets from each other," Sakura stated while glancing at Sasuke, almost accusingly.

"Fine. Say what you want," Sasuke relented.

"Do you remember when my birthday is?" Naruto asked.

Sakura answered, "It's …October 10th, right?" She seemed confused by the apparent change of topic.

"Thirteen years ago, on October 10th, a tragedy befell our village," Naruto continued.

"The Nine-Tails Attack," Sasuke recalled.

"We were taught that the Fourth Hokage heroically killed the Nine-Tails at the cost of his own life. That is a lie," Naruto revealed.

"Wha-?" Sakura was shocked.

"The Tailed Beasts are chakra constructs that would simply reform after some time if they are destroyed. They cannot be killed. But, the Nine-Tails' power is the greatest of all the Tailed Beasts, and had too much power to be sealed into any inanimate object, as it would simply be overwhelmed. Therefore, the Fourth sealed it into a newborn child, who, unlike an adult, would be able to adjust to the demonic chakra of the Nine-Tails, creating a living container that would imprison the fox until death, a Power of the Human Sacrifice: Jinchuuriki," Naruto explained.

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes went wide. They were too shocked to even say anything.

"I was the newborn child chosen for that purpose," Naruto ended sadly. His cloak opened, showing him lifting his jacket to reveal the skin around his stomach, on which a complicated seal slowly materialized.

His teammates stared at the proof of his status as a Jinchuuriki in a mixture of awe and horror.

"You…you…that's…" Sakura whispered.

"So then…in the forest, that red chakra…" Sasuke began deducing.

"Correct. That was the chakra of the Nine-Tails, reacting to my heightened negative emotions and despair after being stabbed. As for why I met with the Hokage, that was because Orochimaru put a seal on top of my existing seal to disrupt its function and inhibit my access to chakra. This, as you can understand, became a matter of village security."

"Hn," Sasuke finally replied, and went to his bed to rest, not saying anything more.

"Naruto…" Sakura didn't know what to say.

"Are you scared of what I am?" Naruto questioned.

"I…I don't know…" Sakura's face showed the conflicting emotions she was wrestling with.

"Hmm, that's okay. Sometimes I'm scared of myself too," Naruto said with a sheepish grin. They said no more after that.

* * *

_**Naruto, Mindscape**_

The sound of dripping water echoed from every direction. Darkness covered the sky of this wretched world, where perfectly reflective water covered the ground up to Naruto's ankles.

It was strange however, this place that looked so much like dank sewers smelled of nothing.

As he strode forward through the water, ripples spread out endlessly with interference patterns. The unending waves would be a hint to the keen observer that this world was not real; at least not in the usual sense.

Slowly, gigantic steel bars revealed themselves before him. Enormous red, glowing eyes manifested from within the darkness. Even though this was not the first time he had been here, it was no less suffocating. The massive hate of the Nine-Tails seemed to float through the air like poison.

"**What do you want, you puny sack of flesh?" **the Nine-Tails' voice blasted.

"To talk," Naruto responded simply.

"**To talk? I have no desire to engage in conversation with the likes of you," **the red eyes glared, seemingly glowing even brighter.

"I'm sorry for threatening you for your chakra last time. But there was no time to waste, unfortunately. But you saved my life when I thought I had died, so thank you," Naruto continued.

"**You want to thank me? Then FREE ME!" **The Nine-Tails demanded as its full face came into view.

"If I do that, what would happen to me?" Naruto asked curiously. Of course, he had no intention of doing it, regardless of the answer, but it was an interesting question.

"**In your current state, you would perish. And if you do not, I would devour you."**

"…Come on, you could at least make it more worthwhile if you're going to ask me such a thing…"

"**Worthwhile? Then I will obliterate this pathetic village and devour every soul within it, including all those who have made your life miserable!"**

Naruto sighed. This was more difficult than he had imagined. He had hoped the fox would be at least somewhat reasonable. There were many things he wanted to know, and the fox likely held that information. On the other hand, that the fox had not yet expelled him back to reality could be a good sign, as he remembered that he had no conscious intent to return the first time he had come here before he re-awoke to the battle.

"What do you mean, in my current state? Is there some way I could survive?"

"…" The Nine-Tails paused for a moment. It narrowed its eyes in suspicion. Nonetheless, it decided to answer.

"**The strength of your life force is the strength of your yang chakra. You are an Uzumaki, a clan that possesses immense vitality. Match your mother, and you will survive as she did, if only temporarily. Exceed her, and you will survive permanently."**

Naruto's eyes widened in shock. What the fox was implying was unimaginable.

"My mother…survived? She was a Jinchuuriki?!" Naruto sputtered.

"**No. As I stated, that was temporary, you fool. But perhaps she would have survived permanently had she not just given birth to you."** The fox sneered.

"B-but why? Why was she a Jinchuuriki?" Naruto demanded.

"**Because your wonderful village wanted my power, and only an Uzumaki would live through the sealing! So of course, your loving Third demanded a hostage to keep the ridiculous farce of an alliance which they quickly betrayed."** The Nine-Tails boomed.

_No way…_

"Then how did you get sealed in the first place?" Naruto asked, fearful of the answer.

The fox did not answer him. **"I've had enough of you today. All you humans are two-faced scheming vermin. Get out, naïve little boy."**

* * *

_Stay calm. Stay calm. It can't be true. The fox is just messing with me. How could it possibly even know that anyway? It's not like it can observe the world outside the seal, can it?_

However much he told himself that, Naruto simply could not shake off his growing sense of dread.

He needed to review the facts.

According to the scroll he found a while back, Mito Uzumaki sealed the Nine-Tails into herself, helping Hashirama defeat Madara.

According to Konoha history, Hashirama and Madara fought alone, and Hashirama came out victorious. Mito Uzumaki is not even mentioned. That was certainly strange because Uzushio's alliance with Konoha was apparently respected even now, going by the swirl symbol still on their ninja uniforms.

According to the scroll, Mito Uzumaki had been given to Hashirama in marriage to establish their alliance, close to Konoha's founding.

According to Konoha history, Hashirama's Wood Element could seal and control all the Tailed Beasts, to the extent that he gathered them and gave them out to other villages as peace offerings. All except the Nine-Tails.

According to the Third Hokage, the Nine-Tails was vastly stronger than any other Tailed Beast.

According to the Nine-Tails, nobody but the Uzumaki could contain it.

What did all this imply? What was true and what was false?

With the destruction of Whirlpool and the abandonment of the name Uzumaki, no one would ever be able to seal the Nine-Tails again, unless they found someone that somehow had as much life force as an Uzumaki. Hashirama Senju was the only man in the world to ever wield the Wood Element. This effectively meant that, with his death, no village but Konoha could ever have access to the Nine-Tails' power, since Konoha would be the only village in the world with known Uzumaki blood in its ranks.

At this point, Naruto could not leap to any conclusions without several more pieces of key information.

Was Mito Uzumaki truly present at the battle at the Valley of the End, or was that a lie Konoha told Uzushio? Why would Hashirama require Mito Uzumaki's help if he could control the Tailed Beasts with the Wood Element? When did Hashirama give out the Tailed Beasts - before or after Konoha gained a Jinchuuriki for the Nine-Tails, which would effectively be their ace in the hole? Is it true that only an Uzumaki could contain the Nine-Tails' power?

He didn't know enough. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this. But the answer that seemed to him most obvious...yet craziest...an answer where everything he knew about Konoha would be turned upside down...where all his Hokage heroes were...were...

What if everything he knew about the man he saw as a grandfather was a lie? Could he really have done something so horrendous as demanding a hostage and betraying his ally at an opportune time to rid the world of competition? And if he did, what did that mean for his father? Why did he die if Mito Uzumaki could seal the Nine-Tails into herself and live? And just who got sacrificed to seal the Nine-Tails into his mother, if anyone?

It was all so unfathomable. And yet, he too had tricked everyone around him into believing that he was a fool, all to grow his power uninhibited. Couldn't the man the world called the God of Shinobi do the same, hiding his darkness behind fake smiles for the sake of power?

No, he could not believe that. That would be a truth too depressing to bear. To think that his life was manipulated like that…that his family was _used_ to create the ultimate living weapon…

_Impossible._

He stared at the dark ceiling above. The silence of the night never felt more ominous.

* * *

Naruto glanced about the arena. The five days were up, and his team had been called down to the first floor where there was a large arena. This floor was quite high as well, as there was a giant statue of a hand seal as well as a long balcony circling the whole arena.

The Hokage was standing in front of the small group of genin. Naruto noticed that there were six teams present. His own, the Sand team, Shikamaru's team, the Sound team, Rock Lee and Neji Hyuuga's team, and Kabuto's team.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji still had dirt all over them; they probably were the last to arrive.

Naruto was slightly uncomfortable as he felt Gaara's gaze on him.

_So…two of the three rookie teams made it. I hope Shino, Hinata, and Kiba are alright… They should be a pretty strong team to have been able to get two scrolls already when I encountered them …but with so few teams and so few scrolls, it would've been hard to get another two scrolls after losing their original and the one they earned in that run-in with Gaara. But how the heck is the Sound team here? Don't tell me they had extras beside the Earth scroll we got from them?_

The Hokage was explaining something about the true nature of the exam. Apparently, it was a replacement for war. Then somebody who seemed really sick and called himself Gekkou Hayate started to speak.

There would be preliminary matches happening immediately because there were too many genin still remaining. And it would be in the form of one on one matches with no rules and the loser would be eliminated. He then asked if anybody wanted to quit right then.

_Yeah right…there's no way—_

Kabuto's hand went up and he announced that he would quit.

Naruto was surprised and watched him walk away. The guy did not seem tired or injured in any way. This was really suspicious: why give up after failing 7 previous exams? Although, Naruto mused that this may have been the reason he failed those exams.

"Now then…if there's nobody else, we will be starting the first match. This electronic screen will show the pairings." He pointed to the screen on the wall behind him.

There was a brief flash from the screen before names appeared. The first match was between Sasuke Uchiha and somebody called Akado Yoroi.

"Everybody except those two please go up to the balconies."

Naruto stood beside Sakura and Kakashi, watching the first match begin.

As soon as Gekkou said begin, the Akado guy ran forward at Sasuke. Sasuke threw some shuriken before running through some hand seals. Akado dodged the shuriken easily, but was unprepared for the mass of fire that shot at him.

'Did I kill him already?' Sasuke wondered as he watched his opponent get consumed by the flames from his Great Fireball Jutsu.

The flames cleared to reveal Akado holding his arms to his face in a blocking position, and his clothes severely burned, but otherwise he appeared to be fine. He continued to rush forward at Sasuke. This time, Sasuke engaged him in a taijutsu battle. He got the upper hand on Sasuke for a slight moment and pushed Sasuke down to the ground and grabbed the rookie's head.

Then Sasuke felt energy leaving him…as if his chakra was being sucked out.

He quickly kicked the guy away and got up. He got an idea for a good way to defeat him.

In the next moment, his Sharingan eyes were active and he started rushing forward. Akado rushed forward as well.

Then, Sasuke disappeared from view and suddenly Akado found himself being kicked up into the air.

"Shadow Leaf Dance!"

Sasuke smirked as he copied Lee's taijutsu maneuvers. 'Now, the rest is all original.'

His face grew fierce as he proceeded to twist and elbow Akado in the stomach. Then he continued spinning and kicked Akado in the same spot. He further spun and used his other arm to crash into Akado once more. And finally, he ended it by slamming his heel down at Akado just as they reached the ground, and he slid back from the force he used.

Rock Lee and his sensei Gai were both shocked to see Sasuke copy their technique after witnessing it just once.

_The Sharingan is powerful…sigh…I guess I can't say it's unfair, considering my Shadow Clones…_

Naruto watched as Sasuke jumped back to the balcony just as Gekko announced his victory.

"Good job, you bastard," Naruto complimented with a smirk.

"That was awesome, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura complimented as well, with her hands fisted in front of her chest and with a big smile.

The screen then showed Kankuro vs. Misumi Tsurugi.

This fight was very short. When the battle started, the Misumi guy rushed at Kankuro and started strangling him with a seriously messed up body that was ridiculously flexible, before Kankuro could unleash whatever it was he had all bandaged up. Then the guy threatened to kill Kankuro unless Kankuro forfeited, and Kankuro refused so Misumi broke his neck…or so everybody thought. Then the "Kankuro" that was being strangled suddenly became some sort of wooden puppet armed with various weapons that grabbed onto Misumi, while the bandaged thing exploded to reveal the real Kankuro.

Kankuro was announced the winner.

The next fight was between Sakura and Ino.

"You can do it, Sakura!" Naruto cheered as she smiled back at him.

The two fighters walked down the stairs to meet each other.

"Begin."

"Sakura…I never thought I'd be fighting you," Ino muttered.

Sakura unwrapped her forehead protector and wrapped it around her forehead. She recalled an incident in the Flower Arrangement class. Back then, Sakura had felt herself weak compared to Ino, who knew so much of flowers and poisons, and even fought off Sakura's bullies by using the flowers as if they were kunai.

As Ino explained the nature of the main flower Cosmos and the often supplementary Fujibakama, the Sakura at the time could only think that she would be the Fujibakama to Ino's Cosmos. However, Ino responded by saying that Sakura was not even a flower, that she was a bud, but could one day grow to be a beautiful flower.

'I don't want you to underestimate me, Ino. Today, I am no longer a bud,' Sakura thought to herself.

Up on the balconies, both Ino's and Sakura's teams looked concerned about the rivalry between the two kunoichi.

"Right now, I have no interest in fighting over Sasuke-kun with you," Sakura declared.

"What was that!" Ino exclaimed. Naruto looked surprised. Sakura seemed different. Then his eyes widened in realization.

_What! How did I not notice until now? When the heck did she cut her hair short? What really happened when I was unconscious?_

"You and Sasuke don't go together anyway. And I'm completely stronger than you, I don't even need to be concerned with you," Sakura taunted with a smirk.

"Sakura, who do you think you're talking to? Don't get ahead of yourself, crybaby Sakura," Ino retorted angrily.

"Is that really Sakura? I didn't think she'd be one to trash talk," Naruto commented with an eyebrow raised.

"Hmmm. You're right, Naruto. It's strange how rivalries work. She just doesn't want Ino not to take her seriously, or go easy on her. To her, this battle is more important than just a preliminary for the finals," Kakashi answered.

Sasuke watched the battle without saying anything.

"Man…I hope she doesn't fall for the taunts…" Shikamaru lamented. "Is Ino going to be alright?" Chouji asked.

Their sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, watched closely too. "Ino's an exceptional ninja, but can she fight against Sakura?"

'Unless I really surpass you, this fight is meaningless…that's why this needs to be an all-out battle,' Sakura thought. Opposite her, Ino smiled as she finally understood. They had promised that when they put their forehead protectors on their forehead, then it was time to show that they would not lose to the other. So she too, took her protector from her waist and wrapped it around her forehead.

The two fighters stood ready and both charged. One Sakura multiplied into three.

"This isn't the Academy, you think you can beat me with a jutsu like that?" Ino shouted.

She observed closely for the real one. Opposite her, Sakura smirked and held the Ram seal to push chakra to her feet.

Ino's was shocked as Sakura moved as a blur and hit her with a punch to the face, sending Ino flying to the ground. "Come on, get serious Ino, or you'll get hurt!" Sakura shouted back.

"As you wish, here I come!" Ino responded as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and got up.

After that, it was an all-out melee that lasted over ten minutes, complete with shuriken and kunai.

"T-there's no way you could be even with me!" Ino exclaimed.

"Of course, how could I be even with somebody who only cares about growing her hair and looking pretty?" Sakura taunted again.

Ino growled and grabbed a kunai and her hair.

"Aw, come on, don't fall for it…" Shikamaru face-palmed.

"Orraaa! I don't need this!" Ino shouted as she cut off her hair and threw it to the ground. "I'm going to end this right now!" She formed the hand seals for the Mind-Body Transfer. Her team looked on in shock, knowing the weaknesses of that technique.

"I understand your desperation, but that's useless. You can't get me if I keep moving, and if you miss, it'll be my win," Sakura answered as she started to move.

"Ninja Art: Mind Body Transfer!" Ino shouted. Suddenly, both fighters went still, heads dropping.

Then Sakura raised her head, "Too bad, Ino…" Suddenly, she felt her ankle being restricted and looked down to see that the mass of hair had formed into a rope.

"You fell for it!" Ino declared as she too raised her head. "Now you can't avoid it."

"So her snapping was also an act…?" Shikamaru realized.

_Oh no…this doesn't look good._

"Ninja Art: Mind body Transfer!" Both fighters went still once more, their heads dropping.

Sakura raised her head again and smirked.. "Too bad…Ino."

The observers were in shock. Suddenly the image of Sakura flickered out of sight and reappear a quarter of a metre away. She walked towards Ino and looked at Gekkou. "Please call the fight, since Ino can't fight back anymore."

"Ah…the winner of this match is Sakura Haruno!"

_Genjutsu…good use of what you know._

Asuma glanced at Kakashi, impressed by the battle, before hurrying down to grab his student.

"Troublesome…"

As Sakura reached her team, they congratulated her. "Nice one, Sakura, you were awesome," Naruto gave her a smile.

"I have to say…I'm impressed," Kakashi let her know.

"Hn, good job," Sasuke grunted.

"Thanks, guys!"

The fourth fight was between Rock Lee and Chouji Akimichi.

Naruto watched this fight as closely as he could, trying to learn more about Rock Lee.

The fight started with Chouji using his Multisize Jutsu to turn into a giant ball that rolled at high speed toward Lee. Without any clear weaknesses to exploit, Chouji's rapidly spinning form posed a challenge to Lee who could only use taijutsu. Lee dodged the incoming attacks for several minutes until his sensei Gai yelled out, "Lee, take them off!"

Lee then jumped on top of the statue of the hand seal.

Then there was a short exchange between the student and sensei before Lee proceeded to take what appeared to be weights off his legs. When the weights fell to the ground, they made a giant crashing sound, revealing their incredible mass.

Subsequently, Lee moved at a speed far higher than before and launched himself at the rolling ball that was Chouji. Lee then disappeared in a burst of speed and timed himself to kick Chouji in the face in mid-air, stopping the rolling and sending Chouji flying back into the wall. As Chouji crashed, his Multisize Jutsu wore off. But Lee didn't stop there, and further moved at high speed until he was right in front of Chouji and punched him in the stomach, thus knocking Chouji out and getting declared the winner.

_Pure taijutsu…he won with just taijutsu and revealed nothing else…what a guy…And that timing, that is hardly genin-level. Not to mention the enormous power he must've used to counter Chouji's angular momentum. But how? It shouldn't be physically possible…was it enhanced by chakra?_

The screen displayed Neji Hyuuga and Kin Tsuchi next.

Both Neji and the female Sound nin walked slowly down to the Arena.

"Fate decrees that you will lose to me today," Neji stated in a bland tone. "You should just give up."

"Yeah, right!" Kin said before getting into a ready position.

Neji responded by doing the same. Then Gekko called for the match to begin.

As soon as he did soon, Kin threw two senbon with bells attached at Neji. Unfazed, Neji simply rushed directly at Kin and swatted aside the two senbon with his bare hands.

Kin looked surprised for a moment before Neji was upon her and was attacking her with open palms and fingers. After a few seconds of the attack, Neji finished with another open palm directly at Kin's heart, sending her back a few metres.

Kin clutched at her chest and coughed up some blood before collapsing on the ground.

Neji was declared the winner.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked out loud.

"What kind of attack was that? He just pushed her," Sasuke remarked. He regretted not having activated his sharingan before the fight began. It had ended too quickly for him to find a good time to activate it.

"That was the Hyuuga clan's special Gentle Fist style of taijutsu," Kakashi from beside them responded. "It attacks the chakra network directly, and can affect the internal organs."

"That's…unbelievable. What ridiculous chakra control…to be able to send it out that far from the body…" Naruto commented. He could hardly believe the fight was already over, and it seemed like Neji had barely done anything.

But suddenly Gaara was already down at the arena in a flurry of sand. The screen showed Gaara vs. Dosu Kinuta.

The Sound nin whose face was bandaged jumped down to face Gaara.

Naruto was watching this intensely. "Guys…pay attention to this one," he said. Sasuke beside him nodded, turning on the sharingan, and Sakura looked at him before looking back at the match.

"Begin," Gekkou said before moving out of the way.

Then, Dosu ran at Gaara, who didn't move an inch – instead preferring to stand still with his arms crossed. Dosu was about to punch Gaara with his arm when Gaara's sand came out of his gourd and blocked the attack.

Gaara looked troubled for a moment before clutching his left ear as the Sound attack reached him. Then he looked at Dosu with bloodshot eyes before all the sand from his gourd erupted and flew at Dosu at high speed. Dosu was unable to dodge before the sand had grabbed onto his right hand and leg. He tried to pull himself free but Gaara pointed at Dosu with his open right hand and clenched it into a fist.

There was a cry from Dosu as the sand crushed his arm and leg. Then the rest of the sand quickly covered the rest of Dosu's body and lifted him in the air.

"Desert Coffin," Gaara stated monotonously.

Everybody's eyes widened except Naruto's, Temari's, and Kankuro's.

Gekkou started to say something, "This match is—" He was interrupted by his own cough. He tried to continue speaking but before he could say anything, Gaara once again had his right hand in that open manner as if it were clutching at something.

"Desert Funeral." He fisted his hand, and this time the sand completely crushed Dosu's body, spraying blood everywhere.

Many of the mouths of the onlookers fell open in shock.

The examiner looked too shock to move for a moment before declaring, "…over." He finished his previous statement. "Gaara is the winner…"

The sand retreated slowly back into Gaara's gourd. There was no sign of Dosu's body anywhere in sight. Gaara held his hands out as some sand came into it and formed a cork between his fingers. The sand retreated completely back into his gourd and he stuffed the cork back into the gourd's entrance. He turned his head and glared at Naruto, as if daring him to do better.

"He's looking at you…" Sakura whispered to Naruto in a scared voice.

'What the hell is this guy? What happened to the body?' Sasuke wondered, still too shocked to move.

Gaara disappeared in a flurry of sand and reappeared back with his teammates on the balcony, still staring at Naruto. Naruto was uncomfortable and so shifted his eyes to the screen.

It showed Naruto Uzumaki vs. Tenten.

Naruto used the Body Flicker to reappear down at the arena. Tenten jumped down to face him.

"You can do it, Tenten!" Rock Lee cheered while gripping the railing and leaning forward.

"Come on, Naruto, make us proud!" Sakura cheered with her fist in the air.

"Don't lose, dead-last," Sasuke said in a loud voice.

_Now then…I'll have to reveal as little as possible while putting on a good show for the Old Man._

"I won't go easy on you, rookie," Tenten said while twirling a kunai and grinning.

"Same to you," Naruto responded with a serious expression.

"Begin!"

Naruto stood unmoving, staring at his opponent. Tenten jumped back to maintain a distance suitable for both offense and defense.

Both fighters stared each other down and did nothing.

"Is something…wrong?" Gekkou asked.

The stare down continued.

"Are you waiting for me to make the first move? Hm, fine," Naruto said. He received no response.

_Both her teammates, and her sensei have remarkable taijutsu skills. She would likely have such skill too. However, given my recent training and supporting jutsu, I should not be horribly outclassed. _

Forming a single hand seal within his cloak, Naruto released his weighting seal.

He dashed towards Tenten, two clones forming around him, in a move reminiscent of Sakura's earlier opening tactic, but with vastly higher speed. Underneath their cloaks, they began rapidly forming hand seals as their skin hardened.

'Fast!' Tenten thought, even as she was surprised that she could not distinguish between the real and the fakes. The three Naruto surrounded her in a triangle formation and began to attack. One clone launched a direct punch to her face, which she parried with a slap, but it went right through him, dispelling the illusion.

She blocked a kick swinging in from the right with her knee, but was shocked when her feet were swept from behind, by the third copy which she'd assumed to be an illusion.

Wasting no time as she fell back towards the ground, the first Naruto delivered a vicious knee into her upper back, sending her into the air, while the other grabbed her left arm to pull her back down and turned to swing her at the ground without letting go. Just as she landed face down the first Naruto jumped on top her back and grabbed her right arm with his right arm and used his left hand to point a kunai at her neck, letting it touch slightly.

Clear surprise was written on the faces of all those who had known Naruto before, and Team Gai.

"H-how? Tenten is stronger than that!" Lee exclaimed.

Neji, who had his Byakugan on to watch his teammates' battle, answered, "It was a trick. The first clone was an illusion, but the second was solid. He used his teammate's illusory move in the earlier fight to confuse us." With his Byakugan, he noticed that the first clone had no chakra system, but the other two Narutos both had chakra systems.

Gai gave a piercing look to Kakashi. "Kakashi, you taught the Shadow Clone, a jounin-level technique to genin? I'm surprised he even has the chakra for it."

Audible gasps could be heard from the genin around him. Both of Naruto's teammates were surprised at the level of the technique that Naruto used constantly. "J-jounin level? Naruto? No way!" Ino denied.

"Well…I didn't teach it to him. He already knew it when I gave my test," Kakashi responded sheepishly.

At that, his listeners' mouths dropped open in shock.

"It was a mistake to let me make the first move. You're finished. Surrender," Naruto demanded.

"G-uh—I yield," came the weak response.

"Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!" Gekko announced promptly.

"Way to go, Naruto!" Sakura yelled out.

_She was weaker than I expected in Taijutsu…seems like my little surprise was highly effective. _

"Since there are ten spots *cough* for the finals, and three remain, the remaining *cough* three, Shikamaru Nara, Temari of the Desert, and Zaku Abumi, *cough* will automatically advance."

…_Lucky Shikamaru…_

Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief, while Temari and Zaku looked annoyed that they couldn't fight.

"Would everyone *cough* please come down, the preliminaries *cough* are now over."

And so everybody gathered, and Gekkou instructed the winners to walk forward.

"Please pick out a piece of paper from this box," he further instructed as he held out a white box with a hole, wide enough to fit an arm.

After each genin picked out a piece of paper, Gekko stated that the number written on the paper would determine the pairings for a tournament in the finals to be held in a month. The match-ups, in order, were as follows:

Shikamaru Nara vs. Naruto Uzumaki

Gaara of the Desert vs. Neji Hyuuga

Rock Lee vs. Temari of the Desert

Zaku Abumi vs. Sasuke Uchiha

Sakura Haruno vs. Kankuro of the Desert

* * *

_**A Shadowy Room**_

Kabuto waited for his master's arrival.

"Kabuto…" a voice finally reached him.

Orochimaru appeared in front of him with a devilish smile. "There's been a change of plans. I have new orders for you…"

* * *

**Edit:** Feb. 19, 2013. I had changed the events in this chapter a lot before uploading, and some outdated parts were accidentally left in here. They were removed.

**Edit:** Feb. 22, 2013. Many of you pointed out that the edit date above "Feb. 29" is in the future. Sorry, that was a typo. It's been fixed.

Taldus, a keen reader and reviewer, noticed something that appeared to be a plot-hole about the conversation with the Nine-Tails. It seems that I really didn't give enough of an explanation of exactly Naruto was thinking, and I've fixed that now. Essentially, Naruto asked the Nine-Tails how it was sealed in the first place, despite apparently already knowing the answer, because if you recall, the scroll he found in the secret room claimed that Mito Uzumaki sealed it to help defeat Hashirama (this is also claimed in canon, and not contested yet), and he relayed this "fact" to his peers during the opening portion of the chuunin exam.

However, as you should be able to understand from the explanation of Naruto's fast-moving thoughts, Naruto asked the question because he now _doubts_ that fact, and wanted to Nine-Tails to confirm it so that his wild theories on Konoha's manipulation can be put to rest. What concerns him is why there is so much contradictory information, and how _convenient_ it was that Uzushio was destroyed only after Konoha extended their Jinchuuriki line.

As such, there is in fact no plot hole. I wonder, were the rest of you able to pick up on that bit without my more detailed explanation, or did you simply forget that Naruto already knew?


End file.
